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Abstract

This presentation will look back at how large corporations have shaped global governance in the past 70 years and forward to an agenda for studying their influence in the coming decades. Social scientists have portrayed multinational/transnational corporations as either sponsors, inhibitors, or providers of global/transnational governance – that is, as sponsors of neoliberal governance architectures; inhibitors of enforceable labor, environmental, or consumer safety standards; or direct providers of governance through private and voluntary initiatives. Finding ways to study the co-existence and intertwining of these roles, rather than studying them in isolation, is crucial for explaining the global governance of the past several decades. It may shed light on the future of global governance in an era that appears headed for disintegration.