Books
International networks of banks and industry
M. Fennema
(Martinus Nijhoff, PO Box 2501, CN The Hague, Netherlands: Distribution in Europe by Kluwer Academic Publishers Group, PO Box 322, 3300 AH Dordrecht, The Netherlands. Distribution for US and Canada by Kluwer Boston Inc. 190 Old Derby St., Higham, MA 02043, USA).1982
Very little academic work has been done in Britain on the subject of interlocking directorships (IDS). That is one good reason why Fennema’s book deserves attention. Judging from this work, though, it seems that ID studies have progressed a long way in Holland and have even given rise to some sophisticated mathematical techniques for examining the significance of the networks which IDS give rise to. (1)
Fennema began work on international ID networks in the 1970s inspired by a study of IDS in the Netherlands made by Mekken and Stokman.(2) The result is an exhaustive study of one aspect in the analysis of imperialism and the financial oligarchy. This should not be lost sight of and, indeed, Fennema admits that IDS alone are not sufficient for a thorough analysis of financial groups and their power. He also refers to an interesting observation made by Rudolf Hilferding in 1914 (3):
“As Hilferding argues, only a central relation in decay is characterised by overtly exercised power. A stable control relation does not show the exercise of power… if it is true that control is only visible when in jeopardy, the research of control through interlocking directorates might show only those cases.” (p3)
Fennema adopts some formal rules in assessing the significance of the various interlocks he deals with – concerning the degree of connectedness and the direction of control. But while this is convincing, it is only a part of the network which exists. Nevertheless, Fennema has pushed the study of this part of the analysis of the financial oligarchy and imperialism in a promising direction. His results, generally speaking, back up earlier studies of the subject. He also shows that the networks he is studying have become more compact during the 1970s.
Much of this book is couched in fairly ordinary language and deals with reasonably familiar themes – for instance, in chapter 1 he surveys the literature on finance capital, comparing various theories on the subject. However part of the book is inaccessible to the majority of people since it makes use of some fairly obscure mathematical methods – graph-theoretical concepts etc.
The book also contains useful empirical material in the form of flow-charts and tables. Finally, there is an excellent bibliography covering studies from all over the world.
A short review such as this cannot do justice to the hard work that has gone into this book. It ought to be studied by all those interested in the subjects of imperialism and the ruling class. There is, of course, always a danger with studies of this kind that they become detached from the political economy of capitalism, ending up as specialist avenues for research by a few academics. But if more people read these books in a critical and intelligent fashion, that tendency may be overcome and studies such as Fennema’s will contribute towards a strengthening of consciousness of the working class and its allies in the political struggle that lies ahead. I, for one, will look forward to more work from Fennema and those like him in Holland.
E.H.
Notes
(1) Graph-theoretical concepts and so-called Mokken scales, for instance.
(2) Graven naar macht (Traces of power). 1975. Later work by these two appears to have been published in English.
(3) Rudolf Hilferding Organisationsmacht und staatsgewalt in Neue Zeit, Vol 32, 1914.