Neo-corporatist theory and the politics of industrial decline.

The case of the French textile and clothing industry during the post-1974 crisis period illustrates a number of issues relevant to the debate about meso-corporatism and interest inter- mediation at the sectoral level in industry. It highlights the importance of attempts to understand the relationships between organised interests and the state in the analysis of the policy process. The pattern of state-industry relations which evolved was crucial in determining the outcome of conflict between state and industry over the management of restructuring during the crisis. The inapplicability of the meso-corporatist model to this case becomes clear. There was a conspicuous absence of either political exchange or a shared policy agenda, each an important element of corporatist patterns of policy formation, in both the formation and implementation of adjustment policies in the sector. Mutual suspicion and a struggle to control the terms of the debate yielded a low level of co-operation. Eventually the industry was able to appropriate increased public funds on its own terms and to insist on a protective trade regime. The complexity of the case points to the need to broaden the debate over models of interest intermediation and to relate it to issues in political economy. This is particularly important with regard to the structure of the bureaucratic state and notions of state autonomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]