The Fading of the State: corporate-government networks in the Netherlands Eelke M. Heemskerk, Robert J. Mokken, Meindert Fennema Forthcoming in International Journal of Comparative Sociology Direct correspondence to: Eelke Heemskerk University of Amsterdam Department of Political Science Oudezijds Achterburgwal 237 1012 DL Amsterdam The Netherlands email:
[email protected] Acknowledgements: We would like to thank Roy Barnes, two anonymous reviewers and the editor for their helpful remarks on earlier drafts, as well as Bastiaan van Apeldoorn and the participants of the Corporate Elite sessions at the XXX Sunbelt Conference for their input and comments. Luc Fransen and Sjoerdje van Heerden’s assistance during the research is greatly appreciated. Heemskerk received partial funding for this project from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). 1 Abstract: This paper contributes to an understanding of how business-state relations have evolved over the past decades by analysing 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 1980's 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.