This article looks at the transformations in styles of political action regarding entrepreneurs of the commercial aviation sector in Brazil, analyzing patterns for periods before and after market reform. Particularly as of the 1960s, entrepreneurs established a pattern of action that was peculiarly linked to their particular interests, marked as it was by their direct relationship with the state bureaucracy responsible for control of their sphere of activities (the Department of Civil Aviation, linked to the Ministry of Aeronautics). These connections enabled entrepreneurs to enjoy a privileged market situation linked to a regulatory model geared toward the financial and operational stability of the few existing companies. With re-democratization, this model was faced with increasing challenges. Policies to combat inflation, questioning of military control over the sector, the working classes' return to the political scenario, as well as the coming to power of a technocratic elite that was interested in extinguishing the connections between the State and economic agents obliged entrepreneurs to redefine their strategies. In this vein, we analyze different moments in entrepreneurial action over the decade of the 1990s and the first years of the new century, seeking to demonstrate how the new environment, marked by political uncertainty and economic crisis, made room for positions that are less focused on particular interests and gestured toward issues such as firms' competitiveness and greater opening up toward public forums for interlocution, placing higher stakes on dialog with workers and other social actors.
entrepreneurs; political action; Brazilian commercial aviation; market reform
