Corporatocracy

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Corporatocracy or Corpocracy is a form of government where a corporation, a group of corporations, or government entities with private components, control the direction and governance of a country.

A historical example of corporatocracy is the East India Company. This British trade organization ruled over most of India, with the support of the British Empire, starting from the end of 18^th century until mid-19^th century.

Though there are currently no true corporatocracies in the world, there are a number of people who have criticized governments for being de facto corporatocracies. However, thoroughly proving this would likely be difficult at best and the idea of a corporatocracy is mainly discussed in the circles of left-wing thinkers. It has been argued that although governments are in control of their countries at one level, international corporations rule those governments at a different, more influential level, and so there is in place a global-corporatocracy.^[1] This global influence in turn has a great deal of power over the national and trans-national (e.g. the EU) governments, who rely and to an extent depend on them.

Some have argued that corporations exert their influence through the WTO (an international agency), although this is hotly debated.^[2]

Many Western governments based on a capitalist system have been accused of being corporatocracies. Many corporations contribute abundantly to political candidates and causes. This creates a dependency of the politician on the corporation - in order to keep his power and wealth (i.e. continue receiving support for re-election bids), he might be obliged to "pay back" to the corporation using his political influence.

This mindset is reinforced when corporations give to competing political parties and major political party candidates. This is seen as a corporation hedging their bets on the outcome of an election, and trying to get on the good side of whichever candidate is elected into office. Some say this is one of the hallmarks of a corporatocracy.

Some say the term "corporatocracy" has no real place in the lexicon, adding that corporations are primarily fictional entities possessing no real power. In fact, it is the people behind those corporations that hold the power. In that sense, a corporatocracy is nothing more than a democracy where the class which owns the means for producing wealth is fighting for its best interests.^{[citation needed]} However, corporations have also been ruled to be considered a 'person' legally, so meaning they have the ability to exert power. ^[3]

It is significant that the richest 1 percent globally own almost 40 percent of the world, and that most of these same people have significant ties to the richest and most influential corporations.^[4]

Those who dismiss the idea of a corporatocracy often say the only way it is possible is if it were legal to buy a politician's vote. In such a way, the corporation would, in fact, have a direct vote on major policy matters. However, all true democracies have made vote buying illegal. However, under the terms of at-will employment, corporations can require their employees to vote a certain way in exchange for (continued) employment. Such a policy is legal, although people intuitively know it probably shouldn't be.^[5]

However, those who believe there may be corporatocracies argue that no one individual, and perhaps no other groups of individuals, would have that much power, money or influence. Further, they argue the decisions on what to push for and who to support are made by a relatively few from inside the corporation. Therefore, while thousands of people may make up a corporation, only a few have the power to speak for the corporation and advocate issues on behalf of the corporation. That provides those corporations with a substantial amount of power, leading to a corporatocracy.

Further, they argue that it does not take an overt effort to buy a politician's vote. Making a substantial donation to a certain politician's campaign could be seen as sending a signal to that politician that the money is there if they vote in a way the corporation desires. Conversely, the money could be donated to an opponent if the vote does not go the corporation's way.

U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower himself argued against the strengthening corporatocracy in the form of a military-industrial complex that sets national and international financial, economic, political and military policies due to a permanent war economy.

In his 2004 book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, John Perkins writes; "corporations, banks, and governments (collectively the corporatocracy)".

The concept of a government run by corporations or instances where governments are actually weaker (politically, financially, and militarily) than corporations is a theme often used in both political fiction and science fiction. In these instances the dominant corporate entity is usually dubbed a megacorporation.

[edit] Notes

1. John Perkins, "Confessions of an Economic Hitman," page xiii, Berrett-Koehler Publishers (November 9, 2004)

1. ^ See Catherine Keller, On The Mystery: Discerning Divinity in Process, Fortress Press, Minieapolis, 2008 (page 6-7) [1].
2. ^ See the Documentary, "Codex Alimentarius", [2]
3. ^ The Corporation, 2003, [3]
4. ^ Sam Pizzigati, Deeply Unequal World, Foreign Policy in Focus, [4]. The United Nations University WIDER study on the World Distribution of Household Wealth, [5]. The World Distribution of Household Wealth study by Davies et al [6].
5. ^ Catherine Keller, On The Mystery, Fortress Press, Minneapolis, 2008 (chapter 1). [7]

[edit] See also