ABSTRACT
Similar to the British colonial period, business elites have been extensively incorporated by the post-colonial state into its advisory bodies and committees. Such a political formula is based upon the assumption that as in the British colonial past, the post-colonial state should be able to mobilize sufficient societal support for its governance and policy initiatives and accommodating societal challenges by relying on the support of co-opted business elites. However, the post-1997 political developments indicated that it is just wishful thinking to hope that the post-colonial state could still count on the co-opted business elites to mediate its relationship with the local community after 1997, in the light of the fact that the business sector is generally too vulnerable and powerless to accommodate the political challenges of the civil society. The increasing public challenges to the state–business alliance has become the last straw for the political support base of the post-colonial state and pushes it into serious crises of governance.
