A handful of corporations and financial institutions command an ever-greater concentration of economic and political power in an assault against markets, democracy, and life. It’s a “suicide economy,” says David Korten, that destroys the very foundations of its own existence.
The bestselling 1995 edition of When Corporations Rule the World helped launch a global resistance against corporate domination. In this twentieth-anniversary edition, Korten shares insights from his personal experience as a participant in the growing movement for a New Economy. A new introduction documents the further concentration of wealth and corporate power since 1995 and explores why our institutions resolutely resist even modest reform. A new conclusion chapter outlines high-leverage opportunities for breakthrough change.
David C. Korten is a cofounder and board chair of YES! Magazine, a cochair of the New Economy Working Group, the founder and president of the Living Economies Forum, a member of the Club of Rome, a founding board member emeritus of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies, a former associate of the International Forum on Globalization, and a former Harvard Business School professor.
Table of Contents
A Choice for Life Prologue: A Personal Journey Introduction: Capitalism and the Suicide Economy PART I: COWBOYS IN A SPACESHIP 1. From Hope to Crisis 2. End of the Open Frontier 3. The Growth Illusion PART II: CONTEST FOR SOVEREIGNTY 4. Rise of Corporate Power in America 5. Assault of the Corporate Libertarians 6. The Decline of Democratic Pluralism 7. Illusions of the Cloud Minders PART III: CORPORATE COLONIALISM 8. Dreaming of Global Empires 9. Building Elite Consensus 10. Buying Out Democracy 11. Marketing the World 12. Adjusting the Poor 13. Guaranteeing Corporate Rights PART IV: A ROGUE FINANCIAL SYSTEM 14. The Money Game 15. Predatory Finance 16. Corporate Cannibalism 17. Managed Competition PART V: NO PLACE FOR PEOPLE 18. Race to the Bottom 19. The End of Inefficiency 20. People with No Place PART VI: TO RECLAIM OUR POWER 21. The Ecological Revolution 22. Economies Are for Living 23. An Awakened Civil Society 24. Agenda for Democracy Conclusion: A Living Economy for Living Earth Epilogue: Our Need for Meaning Notes Acknowledgments Index About the Author
This is a 'must read' book -- a searing indictment of an unjust international economic order, not by a wild-eyed idealistic left-winger, but by a sober scion of the establishment with impeccable credentials. It left me devastated but also very hopeful. Something can be done to create a more just economic order.
Danny Glover
Like many of the people who in November 1999 attended the WTO Teach-ins in Seattle, I was motivated to be there because of David Korten's work. When Corporations Rule the World continues to be at the very center of this expanding global dialogue and invites us all to become participants in what I believe to be a sacred trust to create a world that works for all.
Ralph Nader
Building on the electrifying, best-selling first edition of When Corporations Rule the World, this new edition expands and updates Korten's laser-like analysis of how global corporations dominate people and their governments, and the miserable conditions that result when the few rule the many. Korten then shows practical pathways to a realizable future of more just, prosperous, and sustainable societies. This book will agitate your mind, elevate your soul, and engage your civic spirit.
