Between Politics, Economy, and Technology: The Changing Environments of Business Associations

The central theme of this book is the adaptation of national systems of organized business interests to changing environments. In this chapter we take a more detailed look at the slices and layers of these political, economic, and technological ‘exostructures’ (Bunge, 1996). Our basic questions are: How do environmental changes affect business associations and how can they possibly trigger adaptation processes? As the overview of business association theories in Chapter 2 has shown, political factors have been given priority in explaining associational behavior and inter-associational structures, whereas economic and technological determinants still play a peripheral role. Nevertheless, it is commonly accepted that these factors have a strong impact on the membership base of business associations. Their neglect is important, because it is generally assumed that the expansion and contraction of membership may affect the entire interest group system. Furthermore, the ability of associational systems to include new and detach abandoned interests affects the legitimacy and effectiveness of public policy