Power, Policy and Profit

Corporate Engagement in Politics and Governance

Edited by Christina Garsten, Professor of Social Anthropology, Department of Social Anthropology and Stockholm Centre for Organizational Research (SCORE) and Adrienne Sörbom, Associate Professor of Sociology, Stockholm Centre for Organizational Research (SCORE), Stockholm University, Sweden

Power, Policy and Profit investigates the manifold ways in which corporate actors attempt to broadly influence political activities. With intensified globalization of markets, the restructuring of provisions of welfare services and accumulation of private capital opportunities for corporate influence in politics affairs have multiplied. Bringing together scholars from different fields in the study of global governance, the volume addresses the rising influence and power of corporate actors on the national and transnational political scene.

‘An expansive, incisive analysis documenting the sprawling and fast-evolving growth of corporate power in policymaking venues across the globe. Pushing the narrative far beyond a simple money-in-politics storyline, the authors illustrate how corporations exert increasing influence in the public sphere and often gain the upper hand vis-à-vis nation-states. Anyone concerned about democratic standards and accountable governance will find this book a must-read.’
– Janine R. Wedel, George Mason University, US

‘This challenging book revisits the relationships between state and market by accounting for the unexpected development of corporations as policymakers, an emergent, global phenomenon. The authors address this fascinating issue in its multiple dimensions. They describe, examine and analyze the way corporations craftily “bricole” political and economic interests; the ambiguous status and roles of international non-state organizations; the permanent duality between doing-good and making money that corporations embrace. They uncover a rather discrete but central transformation of today’s definition of public intervention.’
– Christine Musselin, SciencesPo, Paris, France

“权力、政策和利润的助教ckles the important and understudied problem of how firms attempt to shape their environment, especially their political and institutional environments. The essays go well beyond examining well-known activities to shed light on venues, strategies and events to which researchers have previously given scant attention. As such, the volume makes an important contribution and promises to stimulate important new lines of research on corporate power.’
– Stephen R. Barley, University of California Santa Barbara, US