The Corporate Citizen

This paper explores the issue as to whether the corporate citizen, because of its power, makes the concept of democracy meaningless.

1,230 words () | 6 sources | APA | 2007 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper argues that the ideals of the American system, as embodied in the Constitution, are to limit the separation between winners and losers and to see that no one group is always to be found in either category, which is not always the situation in the case of the corporate citizen. The author refutes the notion of corporations having citizenship by virtue of legal and political status but rather by their participation in processes of governance. The paper stresses that the public can make a difference and return control to its own hands especially with so much public disgust regarding corporate greed and the scandals that mark it such as the Enron case.

From the Paper:

"Feingold (2000) makes the direct link between the corporate threat to democracy and money, notably the money spent by corporations on political campaigns, money that usually the public at large cannot match, at least not in a way that assures reciprocity. ...Chua (1998) finds ways in which both corporate power and the principle of majority rule undermines the ability of minorities to gain or exercise political power in a democracy. She finds these forces at work not just within the borders of the U.S. but worldwide."

Sample of Sources Used:

Aman Jr., A.C. (2001). Privatization and the democracy problem in globalization: Making markets more accountable through administrative law. Fordham Urban Law Journal 28.5, 1477 - 1501.
Anderson, G.L. (2005). Democracy or oligarchy? Regulating financial power. International Journal on World Peace 22.2, 29 - 52.
Chua, A.L. (1998). Markets, democracy, and ethnicity: toward a new paradigm for law and development. Yale Law Journal, 1 - 17.
Crane, A., Matten, D. & Moon, J. (2003). Can corporations be citizens? Corporate citizenship as a metaphor for business participation in society. International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility, 1 - 32.
Feingold, R.D. (2000). Representative Democracy versus Corporate Democracy: How soft money erodes the principle of one person, one vote. Hover Press, 316 - 327.