The representation of business interests during the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain

Abstract

This article explains the representation of business interest during the COVID-19 pandemic. The article describes how business interests get into the policy process across policy areas and political venues. Following previous studies (Dür and Mateo, 2016), the article argues the COVID-19 pandemic did not alter business groups’ position in the policymaking process. Business groups occupy a predominant role in the discussion of policy proposals vis-à-vis other types of groups during the COVID-19 in the governmental arena, and this is especially the case for economy related policies and agriculture affairs. In contrast, business groups occupy a secondary role in the parliamentary arena, especially for non-economic issues. The article also explains which business associations represent business interest during the COVID-19 pandemic. The empirical strategy relies on two datasets developed by the Quality of Democracy Research Group (www.q-dem.com) containing information about interest groups’ mobilization in the Spanish Congress of Deputies and the Spanish government from March 2020 to March 2021.