Abstract

This study examines unity and organization among energy companies in the years leading up to and including passage of the 1979 National Energy Policy and the 1992 Energy Policy Act. The study is divided into two policy periods, the first extending from 1973-1984 and the second extending from 1985-1992. The purpose of this project is to compare the levels of corporate cohesion, both through corporate director interlocks and policy planning groups, in each of the two policy periods.

Energy company and trade association leaders found greater symmetry between their recommendations and the policies enacted in the Bush energy plan rather than those enacted in the Carter energy plan. This project argues that this greater symmetry with the Bush energy plan corresponds with an increase in the number of director interlocks held by energy companies, an increase in the number of indirect ties between energy companies, and an increase in the number of ties to policy planning groups. Also notable is the increased centrality of policy planning groups within the energy network and the increased centrality of the "core" energy corporations in the later policy period.

Lastly, the study provides evidence that the more favorable policy outcome enacted under the Bush administration corresponds with a more cohesive relationship between the policy planning groups and the energy trade associations. While the nature of energy trade association policy recommendations remained fairly consistent in both policy periods, these recommendations were in many ways counter to those articulated by the most central policy planning groups in the first policy period. The greater density of ties between the energy trade associations and the broader inter-industry policy planning groups in the second policy period, however, corresponded with greater consistency in the recommendations articulated by the two types of organizations. This study concludes that the increased influence of these energy trade associations in the broader inter-industry policy planning groups enhanced the capacity of the energy industry to shape a more favorable policy agenda under the Bush administration.