Abstract

MLG implies that different policy levels are structurally interdependent. We investigate the consequences of this for the relation between private and public actors. A short review of the literature results in two competing hypotheses. The persistence-hypothesis says that multilevel networks of private actors with a strong national institutional embeddedness are more elaborated. The compensation-hypothesis assumes that a weak national institutional embeddedness stimulates multilevel networking. These hypotheses are tested with data collected by interviewing a sample of private and public actors at both the Belgian and European level. The evidence gives more support to the persistence-hypothesis than to the compensation-hypothesis. We also found that the correlation between national embeddedness and multilevel networks differs for diffuse and specific interests. The correlation is strong for specific interests and weak for diffuse interests. This means that the European strategies of diffuse interest are developed more or less independently from their positionin national networks.