ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights the changes in domestic and foreign policy orientations within the most important segments of the Dutch ruling class during the interwar period. It identifies the personal connections between politicians and corporations suffices to support the thesis that the state has become the instrument of specific monopolies. The chapter assumes that the political currents within the bourgeoisie, although exposed to outside influences, cannot be reduced to their importance to specific group interests. It analyses changes in national and foreign policy orientation against the background of traditions associated with specific segments, because these appear to form the interpretive and calculative framework for leading politicians. The chapter examines some key structural characteristics of the Dutch economic situation after World War I. It discusses possible theoretical distinctions regarding capital and the bourgeoisie, highlighting that between capital fractions and fractions of the bourgeoisie.
