The Shifting Balance of Political Power: Hearts, Minds and Policies

Abstract

There is a reciprocal relationship between economic power - the ability to capture markets; play off raw material, capital and component suppliers against each other to extract the lowest possible price; and technologically leapfrog, financially outspend, undersell and eventually bankrupt rivals — and political power. Money buys access to political power which can then be used to promote policies favoring the buyer, which allows even greater resources with which to buy more political power.