Firms in emerging economies frequently choose not to follow a proactive approach to corporate political activity (CPA), engaging actively and preemptively with government and state institutions. Instead, our study suggests that firms in emerging economies often deploy reactive political capabilities to exercise reactive political activities that allow them to adapt to, rather than proactively influence, government. We unveil a reactive approach to CPA as a potentially effective choice that involves deploying reactive political capabilities. We also advance a taxonomy of reactive political activities to amplify the CPA options available to firms.