The paper studies how continuity of politics of economic upgrading is possible in democratic non-corporatist open emerging economies, in which, by definition, upgrading coalitions of the earlier development literature are not possible. The paper proposes a framework that integrates business power and social blocks approaches, and links continuity of politics of economic upgrading to an interplay of ‘quiet’ politics between state and business elites, and a hegemonic discourse of the national interest. In this framework, while ‘quiet’ politics is seen as a driver of interest prioritization of emerging high-productivity sectors that consequently lead to changes in economic specialization, a hegemonic discourse functions as a coordinating mechanism for inputs from different socio-economic domains, brings continuity and strategical consistency to the political action, and serves as a lever neutralizing increased salience-based hostile attacks from competing socio-political groups. Empirically, the paper adopts a deviant case study strategy and studies politics that underpinned the emergence of a long-standing prioritization of ICT services in Estonia, a prominent example of recent successful developers, during its post-communist transition. The paper makes several contributions to the existing literature. It shows that, first, in contemporary emerging economies, ‘quiet’ politics coupled with a hegemonic discourse can serve as a substitute for upgrading political coalitions that the earlier literature has typically associated with the developmental state or corporatist institutions; second, ‘quiet’ politics is also possible in a high salience condition if it is backed by a hegemonic discourse, and third, in the context of politics of economic growth, emerging economic sectors-based social blocks can be as powerful as social blocks based on established sectors, therefore, an important divide of capitalist competition can not only be between the latter but also between the former and the latter.

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Presenter bio: https://www.tspmi.vu.lt/en/zmogus/dr-marius-kalanta/