Industrial entrepreneurs and political action regarding environmental norms for the federal legislature: correlating participation and influence doi: 10.5007/2175-7984.2010v9n17p141

Abstract

In Brazil, political institutions that create environmental norms are targets of pressure in function of the restrictions that they impose to industrialbusiness from environmental regulations. The study seeks to answer how the industrial business interest group participates and influences on the environmental policy design. The study shows that the new institutional context strengthened the corporative representation system, defined new forms of interaction between State and industrial businesses men and delineated a new articulation pattern within the policy system. This made the industrial business interest group an influential group in shaping the environmental policy. The study central questions are (a) how people that act on behalf of industrial business men have access to policy instance and (b) to what extent are their influence. These questions are analyzed from the theory of interests group and the institutional approach. This theoretical
framework is able to explain how the interest group has channels of access, participates and has power of influence taking into account the dynamics of the institutions that are targets of pressure.