Interest groups and policy networks: an analysis of the industrial policy-making

Abstract

A great part of the analysis of the industrial policy making process concentrates almost exclusively on the investigation of the role played by the State. This creates a distorted image of reality, namely, that the State is the sole relevant actor in this process. In this article I discuss the issue suggesting the necessity and the possibility to introduce an alternative approach founded on the analysis of policy networks. I present the two most important policy networks types, namely the neopluralist and the neocorporatist. The article concludes that such an alternative approach offers in fact important elements for the study of the policy making process. However it has been incapable till now to analyze in details the role of the actors involved in the policy making through networks. The main objective however is to present a rele-vant literature on this issue. Key words: Industrial policy; interest groups, policy networks; neopluralism; neocorporatism