4. Korten’s anti-corporate critiqueAnti-corporate anti-capitalism
David Korten
Global government inc
Growth of monopoly
Transnational corporate elite
Free markets versus capitalism
Adam Smith as an anti-capitalist
Populism
New age politics
Korten: A critique.
Korten, D. (2001) When Corporations Rule the World. San Francisc: Kumarian Press.
Wall (2005) Ch 3.
Of the many countries I have visited, Pakistan most starkly exemplifies the experience of elites living in enclaves detached from local roots. The country’s three modern cities […] feature enclaves of five-star hotels, modern shopping malls, and posh residential areas with a poor and feudalistic countryside governed by local lords who support private armies with profits from a thriving drug and arms trade and who are inclined to kill any central governmental official who dares to enter. Health and education indicators for Pakistan’s rural areas are comparable to those for the most deprived African nations […] My hosts […felt] as much at home in New York or London as in Karachi, Lahore, or Islamabad
Particularly striking, however, was the extent to which – in contrast to their knowledge of or interest in the rest of the world – they had little knowledge of or interest in what was happening in their own country beyond the borders of their enclave cities. It was as though the rest of Pakistan were an inconsequential foreign country not worthy of notice or mention. (Korten 2001: 117-118)
Seminiar questions
1. Why and how does Korten criticise corporations?
2. what are the economic arguments for corporations (including multinationals)
3. Is a return to localised Adam Smith style markets possible?
DVDs, etc
The corporation : a documentary [single disc edition] / directed by Mark Achbar & Jennifer Abbott; written by Joel B | 2004. | 338.88 COR DVD [open access] |