Corporatocracy
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Corporatocracy is an imprecise[1] pejorative term describing a situation in which corporate bodies interact with sovereign power in an unhealthy alignment between business and political power.[2]
It describes an elite,[3] sometimes termed the "1 percent",[4][5][6][2] which maintains ties between business and government,[2][6] sometimes by lobbying efforts[7][4] or funding political advertising campaigns,[8] or providing bailouts when corporations are seen as too big to fail,[9] for the purpose of controlling government[3] and dictating policy to serve its financial interests.[7]
It is a negative term, likened pejoratively to cancer,[6] fascism,[10] and Orwellianism,[11] perhaps because, according to this view, business-government ties are seen as secretive,[12][7] lacking transparency and accountability.[5][11]
The term has been used to describe what some see as economic exploitation, and has been used to explain bank bailouts,[3] excessive pay for CEOs,[3] as well as generalized complaints such as the plundering of national treasuries,[5] people, and natural resources.[13]
It has been used by critics of globalization,[5][14][3] sometimes in conjunction with criticism of the World Bank[15] or unfair lending practices,[15][13] as well as criticism of free trade agreements which, according to these claims, move high-paying jobs overseas.[14]
Corporatocracy is viewed as anti-democratic or opposed to democracy[1][3] or used to describe situations in which democracy has been manipulated negatively,[8][16] sometimes resulting in a passive citizenry[17] and subservient media.[17]
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[edit] No formal definitions
As of January 4, 2012, there were no formal definitions for the term corporatocracy in Webster's Dictionary,[18] Dictionary.com,[19] or Cambridge Dictionaries Online.[20] There are indications that the term first came into usage during the middle of the first decade of the 2000s. One evolving definition in an online source suggested that the term meant a "social and economic class of rulers" who own and manage large corporations, as well as identification of corporatocracy as a system with economic structures permitting this to happen.[8] In 2011, the term is used only irregularly in the media, although there are indications that usage is becoming more prominent.
[edit] Usage
While there appears to be no definitive evidence of who coined the term corporatocracy, the term was used by author John Perkins in his 2004 book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, where he described corporatocracy as a collective composed of corporations, banks, and governments.[3] Since then, the term has been used as an umbrella term for discontent for issues ranging from globalization, lobbying, economic inequality, and other issues, and it continues to evolve in everyday parlance. The term has been used by protesters in the 2011 Occupy movements[1][4] in Washington and Boston[10] and elsewhere. According to reporter Will Storey in The New York Times, there was a consensus among Occupy D.C. protesters that the notion of "we've surrendered our nation to a corporatocracy" was an underlying problem, and that ending this arrangement should be the central goal.[21] In a slightly different account, "ending corporatocracy" was seen as one of many objectives of the Occupy protesters.[22]
Democratic activist Naomi Wolf blamed corporatocracy for being a cause of many problems.[5] She wrote an editorial in The Guardian which was later reprinted in the China official news site China Daily in which she blamed a global corporatocracy for having "purchased governments and legislatures, created its own armed enforcers, engaged in systemic economic fraud, and plundered treasuries and ecosystems."[5][23]
In the 2009 book Understanding Social Problems, authors Linda A. Mooney, David Knox, and Caroline Schacht identified corporatocracy as a situation in which "government caters to the interests of big business" in a way which hurts workers, consumers, and the general public interest.[2] The term suggests ties between business and government.[2] One view of social critics is that the corporate influence in the United States is "so strong" that it can "render ineffective any president" who fails to advocate for the corporate agenda.[2]
Economist Jeffrey D. Sachs described America as a corporatocracy in his 2011 book The Price of Civilization.[24] He suggested that it arose from four trends (1) weak national parties and strong political representation of individual districts (2) the large U.S. military establishment after World War II (3) big corporate money financing election campaigns (4) globalization tilting the balance away from workers.[24]
... the lobbies dominate policy-making at the expense of the nation and contrary to the expressed opinions of the American people—Economist Jeffrey Sachs in 2011[4]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Will Oremus (Oct. 19, 2011). "OWS Protesters May Demand "Robin Hood" Tax: The magazine that sparked the protests calls for a 1-percent levy on financial transactions.". Slate Magazine. http://slatest.slate.com/posts/2011/10/19/robin_hood_tax_adbusters_proposes_demand_for_ows_march_on_oct_29.html. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
- ^ a b c d e f Linda A. Mooney; David Knox, and Caroline Schacht (2009). Understanding Social Problems. Cengage Lerning. p. 256. http://books.google.com/books?id=1Zb3-2UxHyUC&pg=PT282&dq=Corporatocracy#v=onepage&q=Corporatocracy&f=false.
- ^ a b c d e f g John Perkins (July 18, 2011). "Economic Chaos, Loans, Greece and Corporatocracy". Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-perkins/economic-chaos-loans-gree_b_901949.html. Retrieved 2012-01-04. "... bailouts in our own U.S. crisis have only benefited the corporatocracy, with CEO's paying themselves outrageous bonuses. ..."
- ^ a b c d Katy Steinmetz (November 9, 2011). "Wednesday Words: Herman’s ‘Cain-Wreck,’ Male Cleavage and More". Time Magazine. http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/11/09/wednesday-words-hermans-cain-wreck-male-cleavage-and-more/. Retrieved 2012-01-04. "...Occupy vocab: corporatocracy. ..."
- ^ a b c d e f Naomi Wolf (5 November 2011). "How to Occupy the moral and political high ground: The worldwide protest can be a critical force for change if it follows some simple rules". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/nov/06/naomi-wolf-occupy-movement. Retrieved 2012-01-04. "... one per cent – a corporatocracy that, without transparency or accountability, ..."
- ^ a b c Carl Gibson (November 2, 2011). "The Corporatocracy Is the 1 Percent". Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carl-gibson/the-corporatocracy-is-the_b_1070659.html. Retrieved 2012-01-04. "Note: spokesman and organizer for US Uncut"
- ^ a b c David Sirota (November 17, 2010). "The Most Honest -- and Disturbing -- Admission About the Corporatocracy I've Ever Seen". Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sirota/the-most-honest---and-dis_b_784780.html. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
- ^ a b c (various anonymous contributors) (Jan 29, 2005). "corporatocracy". The Urban Dictionary. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=corporatocracy. Retrieved 2012-01-04. "... A social and economic class of rulers, defined by their involvement in the ownership and management of large corporations. ..."
- ^ Bruce E. Levine (March 16, 2011). "The Myth of U.S. Democracy and the Reality of U.S. Corporatocracy". Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-e-levine/the-myth-of-us-democracy-corporatocracy_b_836573.html. Retrieved 2012-01-10. "Americans are ruled by a corporatocracy: a partnership of "too-big-to-fail" corporations, the extremely wealthy elite, and corporate-collaborator government officials."
- ^ a b Jamie Reysen (October 04, 2011). "At Boston's Dewey Square, a protest of varied voices". Boston Globe. http://articles.boston.com/2011-10-04/yourtown/30243272_1_protesters-plan-hundred-protesters-tent. Retrieved 2012-01-04. "... Corporatocracy is the new Fascism ..."
- ^ a b ANDY WEBSTER (November 10, 2011). "Yearning to Breathe Free on the Web". The New York Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/11/11/movies/barbershop-punk-on-net-neutrality-review.html. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
- ^ GrrlScientist (3 November 2011). "GrrlScientist + Cancer". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/grrlscientist+society/cancer. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
- ^ a b John Perkins (March 2, 2011). "Ecuador: Another Victory for the People". Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-perkins/ecuador-another-victory-f_b_830112.html. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
- ^ a b Roman Haluszka (Nov 12 2011). "Understanding Occupy’s message". Toronto Star. http://www.thestar.com/opinion/letters/article/1085489--understanding-occupy-s-message. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
- ^ a b ANDY WEBSTER (August 14, 2008). "Thoughts on a ‘Corporatocracy’". The New York Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/08/15/movies/15apol.html. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
- ^ SCOTT MANLEY (March 03, 2011). "Letters to the editor: Union busting". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11062/1129248-110.stm. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
- ^ a b Robert Koehler (December 18, 2011). "The language of empire: In official statements and in media reporting, continued war and ongoing American domination are a given". Baltimore Sun. http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2011-12-18/news/bs-ed-koehler-20111217_1_oil-rich-region-regional-war-iraq. Retrieved 2012-01-04. "... the corporatocracy and its subservient media. ..."
- ^ "corporatocracy". Merriam-Webster Dictionary. 2012-01-04. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/corporatocracy. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
- ^ "corporatocracy - no dictionary results". Dictionary.com. 2012-01-04. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/corporatocracy. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
- ^ "Results for corporatocracy: corporatocracy was not found". Cambridge Dictionaries Online. 2012-01-04. http://dictionary.cambridge.org/spellcheck/british/?q=corporatocracy. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
- ^ WILL STOREY (October 6, 2011). "D.C. Occupied, More or Less". The New York Times. http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/06/d-c-occupied-more-or-less/. Retrieved 2012-01-04. "... we’ve surrendered our nation to a corporatocracy ..."
- ^ Anita Simons (October 24, 2011). "Occupy Wall Street will go down in history". Maui News. http://www.mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/554675.html. Retrieved 2012-01-04. "... we all have different personal objectives, such as ending corporatocracy, ..."
- ^ Naomi Wolf (2011-11-01). "The people versus the police". China Daily. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/project/2011-11/01/content_14017769.htm. Retrieved 2012-01-04. "... Their enemy is a global "corporatocracy" that has purchased governments and legislatures ..."
- ^ a b Sachs, Jeffrey (2011) (in English). The Price of Civilization. New York: Random House. pp. 105, 106, 107. ISBN 978-1-4000-6841-8.
[edit] External links
- John Perkins lecture on Corporatocracy
- Teaching for Democracy in an Age of Corporatocracy by Christine E. Sleeter, Teachers College, Columbia University.
- Crimes of Globalization: The Impact of U.S. Corporatocracy in Third World Countries by John Flores-Hidones
