Paper presentation: Business corporations as co-sovereigns

• Department of Law

The Legal and Political Theory Working Group will host a paper presentation by Rutger Claassen (Utrecht University & EUI)

Abstract

Global business corporations have often been criticised for being insufficiently accountable to the regulatory powers of states. Such criticisms rely on a monist assumption: that corporations should be subordinated to state power. Only a reinvigorated monism – i.e. assertive public control of corporate power by either the state or, even more monistically, by international public organisations – is thought to provide an appropriate remedy. Historically, modern political theories have often defended such monist positions. But there is also a tradition of pluralism which takes a competing viewpoint and stresses the autonomy of social organisations (including corporations) from the state. Instead of a society ruled by one sovereign authority, pluralism argues that society should be seen as consisting of many co-sovereign powers. This paper investigates the question of whether pluralism has anything to offer in understanding global corporations’ power, and in searching for ways to make their power (more) accountable. The author will suggest that a purely monist stance to the problem of unaccountable corporate power is unwarranted. The solution may just as well be sought in a renewed form of pluralism.