The Corporation: State of Power 2020

On November 5, 2015 a failure at the Germano iron ore mine’s tailings dam in Mariana, Minas Gerai state, Brazil caused hundreds of tons of toxic mud to sweep downstream, killing 19 people and contaminating the Doce River for many hundreds of kilometers. In the wake of the disaster, Vale adopted “Mariana never again,” as its motto. Yet, in 2019, it did happen again. This time in Brumadinho. And it was even worse; killing 270 people. Investigations showed that mining executives consistently ignored warnings, failed to invest in preventative technologies and lobbied for reduced regulations and controls even after they knew the potential catastrophic consequences.

The story of Brazilian mining firm Vale’s corporate greed leading to devastating social and environmental consequences and then being able to use their power to escape accountability is far from unique. It is the story of Monsanto and its cancer-causing Roundup, Chevron and the contamination of Ecuador’s rainforest, Apple and sweatshops in China, JPMorgan Chase and the financial crash. Corporations shape our lives like never before and are more powerful than ever. A 2017 study2 showed that of the top 100 largest economies, 78 are now corporations and only 22 are countries. Walmart’s revenues are larger than the GDP of countries like Australia, Spain or the Netherlands. Tim Cook, CEO of Apple has easier access to the leaders of US, China, Netherlands and India than the foreign ministers of developing countries. He also has tracking devices in nearly all of our pockets.

Yet for such a powerful entity, we still know very little about corporations; from how certain critical decisions are made to how they are structured. That was certainly Brazilian activist Tchenna Maso’s experience as she and her colleagues started to investigate Vale and seek justice for those affected by the Mariana and Brumadinho disasters. “Vale is supposedly a Brazilian firm, but no-one outside the firm knows who all the investors are, how the corporation is structured through all their intermediaries, or all the work they are involved in. It’s not just communities who don’t know — the government doesn’t know and neither do the investors…Corporations have become financialized and increasingly impermeable to pressure. It is a corporation without a clear public face.”

The modern corporation has become an immense vehicle of power and impunity, hidden behind a veil of secrecy and complexity, geared to a single purpose: profit.

This book explores the machinery of the corporation, examining their origins, their evolution, their mechanisms of power and influence, the way they have reshaped international law, the impact of financialisation, digitization and Chinese capital, and the efforts of activists and social movements to challenge and constrain corporate power. It also looks at possible alternatives to the corporate form.

Featuring leading scholars and activists from across the globe including Joel Bakan, Myriam vander Stichele, Anita Gurumurthy, Nandini Chami, Lee Jones, Alain Deneault, Tchenna Maso, Marjorie Kelly, Adoración Guamán, Brid Brennan and Gonzalo Berron, this is an indispensable guide to one of the world's powerful institutions that shapes all our lives.