ACTA SOCIOLOGICA 2005 Bridging Different Worlds? Economy, Politics and Brokerage Roles in Sweden

abstract: This article examines economy and politics in Sweden from a network theoretical perspective. In Sweden, economic and political elites make up two distinct catnets that are largely separated from each other, although there are bridges between them. The article contributes to an understanding of what brokerage roles are at work within the institutional arrangements of corporatism and pluralism. For several decades Sweden was considered one of the prototypical examples of corporatism. Representative brokerage was common, and promoted a relatively high degree of system integration. However, Swedish corporatism has declined dramatically since the early 1990s. This article discusses the consequences for contacts between the economic and political catnets in Sweden, and how corporatism has affected the level of system integration and the creation of social capital. The article shows that the more pluralistic institutional settings that replaced corporatism have resulted in two simultaneous processes: one of frag-mentation of the economic catnet, caused by a shift from interest organizations to singular corporations as the locus of contact with political decision-makers, and one of increased importance of professional lobbyists as brokers (of the liaison type)