Professor of Political Science and Director of the Environmental Policy Major, Dino Christenson, has published an article he co-authored with recent WashU PhD graduate, Lucas Boschelli, in the journal Research & Politics. The article analyzes how subsidiaries shape corporations’ political interests and collaborations as they seek to influence the Supreme Court. Boschelli worked on the piece with Christenson while he was still a PhD grad student in political science at WashU. Christenson and Boschelli were joined by Janet Box-Steffensmeier, Vernal Riffe Professor and Distinguished University Professor of Political Science at Ohio State University. Read the abstract below and full article at Research & Politics.
Abstract:
Increasingly, corporations expand through the creation or acquisition of new subsidiary companies. Despite the commonality of the practice, little is known regarding how it influences corporations’ political behavior. This research note analyzes how subsidiaries shape corporations’ political interests and collaborations as they seek to influence the Supreme Court. To accomplish this, we construct a historical dataset of the acquisitions and mergers of a politically active sample of Fortune 500 corporations (spanning various industries and sizes) that we combine with their history of filing amicus curiae briefs to the Court. Through social network and longitudinal analyses, we analyze whether and how corporations change their targeted issue areas, collaborations, and political success following consolidation. While mergers and acquisitions have little effect on the quantity of actions or success before the Court, they expand the issues of political interest for corporations, and increase both their popularity and ability to broker information in their political network.
