When the Business Sector Enters Party Politics: Conservative Mobilisation and Strategic Use of Threats

Abstract

Why do business actors sometimes move beyond indirect influence and engage directly in party politics? This article examines the conditions under which economic elites adopt what we term a “party solution”: direct involvement in conservative parties through candidacies, organisational roles, and access to government. Drawing on a comparative analysis of Argentina and Colombia, it argues that this strategy is more likely when a sustained perception of threat to core economic interests converges with the availability of a conservative partisan vehicle capable of incorporating business actors. The analysis relies on process tracing based on press coverage, in-depth interviews, and legislative evidence. It examines Propuesta Republicana in Argentina and Centro Democrático in Colombia. In Argentina, business mobilisation responded to direct policy interventions by left-wing governments; in Colombia, it was driven by a forward-looking institutional threat. In both cases, business actors initially relied on conventional influence strategies before accepting visible engagement.