The fading of the state: Corporate–government networks in the Netherlands

In: International journal of comparative sociology: IJCS, Volume 53, Issue 4, p. 253-274

Abstract

This article contributes to an understanding of how business–state relations have evolved over past decades by analyzing elite interlocks between the corporate sector and the state over the period 1969–2006 in the Netherlands. These interlocks create links between the top decision centers of the largest corporations and public administration. A comparative analysis over time of the network of corporate–state interlocks for the years 1969, 1996 and 2006 reveals that ties that were very frequent in 1969 are in decline, reflecting and confirming a rapid disentanglement of the corporate sector from what was until the 1980s an example of neo-corporatist socio-economic arrangement. The disappearance of industrial policy, privatization of state-owned corporations, the emergence of autonomous administrative units, and the 'hollowing out' of the state, all contribute to the fading of the state. The network structure that remains in place – albeit thin – is not dominated by either the state or business but rather a partnership between separate forces. At the same time many of the previous state–business relations are now established outside the span of control of the state. The state is left out. Our study suggests that by the time the financial crisis hit in 2007, the social fabric making for fruitful state–business cooperation was gone.