Core Business Network in the Eurozone

Surprisingly, available elite studies on the EMU have mainly focused on the strategy of political elites in favor of uniting (Fligstein & Mara-Drita 1996 ; Jabko 2006), and Fligstein (2008) recently claimed there is still no real transnational business cohesive circle in Europe. This echoes a long-standing debate on the existence of a transnational capitalist class or transnational business community (Robinson & Harris 2000; Sklair 2001; Morgan 2001; Carroll & Fennema 2002; Carroll & Carson 2003; Kentor & Jang 2004; Carrol & Fennema 2004; Nollert 2005; Kentor & Jang 2006; Carroll & Fennema 2006). In this paper, we seek to clarify the debate for Europe on the basis of an interlocking directorates study. We present a new theoretical framework for the study of transnational interlocking, a new context of reference (stock exchange indices rather than magazine rankings or international business organizations), and an original data-setting method (board composition at the end of the year for 2006 and 2007). From this perspective, three main observations emerge. First, unsurprisingly, national scores of centrality remain much higher than transnational ones—proof of the persistence of the national anchorage of core business elites. Second, the emerging transnational power based on transnational interlocks is based on the strength of weak ties, particularly around financial companies. Third, though the absolute density of transnational interlocks remains the higher on the Franco-German axis, our partial Chi2 test indicates that it is less important than what could be expected, contrarily to Franco-Dutch interlocks, which call for deeper investigations about economic restructuring in the Netherlands.ou