American Business and Political Power: Public Opinion, Elections, and Democracy (Studies in Communication, Media, and Public Opinion)

This is must reading of anyone interested in the power of business and interest groups in American national government.

Not as eye poping as the jacket promises
Smith takes a tautalogical thesis, and displays that business interests don't always dominate the political sphere. Alas, it would seem, that one of the reasons business is not sucessful in this country is that it has too little power vis a vis environmental regulation, labor law, etc. Even with Smith's data and analysis, this is only the case in one domain, where busisnesses are unified in interest and action. In these very few cases, public interest is much higher than the norm and thus oposition to business is much more likely. In Smith's other domains (which capture many more policy instances), public interest is so low, that corporations almost always get what they want...some kind of policy preference from the government. While the typology developed for this study can be applied across policy making units, it is even more likely that corporate interests succeed at the state and local level.

A Timely Read In This Election Year
Ralph Nader and Pat Buchanan are on the rampage against the influence of big business in politics. But how much power do such businesses really wield? Prof. Smith conclusively demonstrates that the power of business varies across time and issue. Business typically wins politically when it wins public opinion; otherwise politicians often side with consumers (namely their constituents who are also consumers). Smith's book deserves to be read widely in this election year. It's well written to boot.