Abstract Organizations representing economic interests within individual nation states peaked in both social importance and academic interest during the 1970s and 1980s. It is often argued that since then they have declined in significance. There are four reasons for this: increasing economic globalization, the dominance of neo–liberal economic ideology, the rise of the individual enterprise, and the challenge of various non–functional (non–producer) interests. This chapter assesses the significance of each of these, paying attention to both general or convergent trends and to those that suggest differences of national experience among European countries. The range of organizations included in the discussion are first established, and the four types of interest relationships (contestation, pluralism, bargained corporatism and authoritarian corporatism) between the organizations and their members and those with whom they deal are identified.
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