The Political Power of Global Corporations
1. Auflage Januar 2018
256 Seiten, Hardcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
Kurzbeschreibung
We have long been told that corporations rule the world, their interests seemingly taking precedence over states and their citizens. Yet, while states, civil society, and international organizations are well drawn in terms of their institutions, ideologies, and functions, the world's global corporations are often more simply sketched as mechanisms of profit maximization.
In this book, John Mikler re-casts global corporations as political actors with complex identities and strategies. Debunking the idea of global corporations as exclusively profit-driven entities, he shows how they seek not only to drive or modify the agendas of states but to govern in their own right. He also explains why we need to re-territorialize global corporations as political actors that reflect and project the political power of the states and regions from which they hail.
We know the global corporations' names, we know where they are headquartered, and we know where they invest and operate. Economic processes are increasingly produced by the control they possess, the relationships they have, the leverage they employ, the strategic decisions they make, and the discourses they create to enhance acceptance of their interests. This book represents a call to study how they do so, rather than making assumptions based on theoretical abstractions.
We have long been told that corporations rule the world, their interests seemingly taking precedence over states and their citizens. Yet, while states, civil society, and international organizations are well drawn in terms of their institutions, ideologies, and functions, the world's global corporations are often more simply sketched as mechanisms of profit maximization.
In this book, John Mikler re-casts global corporations as political actors with complex identities and strategies. Debunking the idea of global corporations as exclusively profit-driven entities, he shows how they seek not only to drive or modify the agendas of states but to govern in their own right. He also explains why we need to re-territorialize global corporations as political actors that reflect and project the political power of the states and regions from which they hail.
We know the global corporations' names, we know where they are headquartered, and we know where they invest and operate. Economic processes are increasingly produced by the control they possess, the relationships they have, the leverage they employ, the strategic decisions they make, and the discourses they create to enhance acceptance of their interests. This book represents a call to study how they do so, rather than making assumptions based on theoretical abstractions.
* Acknowledgments
* List of Tables and Figures
* Abbreviations
* 1.Introduction: The Global Corporate Takeover
* 2.Theorizing Global Corporations' Power
* 3.Geographical Concentration
* 4.National Institutional Embeddedness
* 5.Private Authority and the Potential for Private Governance
* 6.Conclusion: Three Implications
* References
* Index
Stephen Wilks, Emeritus Professor, University of Exeter
"This book provides a timely and highly needed addition to the literature on corporations as political actors in today's global political economy. Mikler's strategy to reterritorialize corporations and specifically corporate power in geopolitical terms allows fascinating perspectives on actors typically considered in terms of transnational characteristics."
Doris Fuchs, University of Muenster
'This readable book is a worthy addition to the literature.'
Society of Professional Economists