Main results:
Work on the corporate constitution (first subproject) researched how to analytically interpret the legitimation of corporate power, in relation to particular economic and political values and in relation to juridical theories of the corporation embedding these values. Also it researched the historical emergence and features of various paradigms for understanding corporate purpose and the normative justification of corporate power. The subproject worked out a proposal for a new mechanism for strengthening corporate accountability to citizens and a new analytical framework for identifying trade-offs in establishing multi-stakeholder governance. .
Work on corporate democracy (second subproject) investigated the justifications for the existing focus on workers’ in the debate about workplace democracy and concluded that there are no principal reasons for this focus. Also, it engaged in a closer examination of the Berlin expropriation movement and its place and significance for the general corporate reform debate. Finally, it defended the position that strikes can be a valuable instrument in fighting worker disillusionment and disenfranchisement within democratic corporations.
Work on social justice & corporation (the third subproject) investigated how to theoretically define and legally execute corporate responsibility for structural injustices, such as climate change. It researched existing accounts of corporate responsibility for structural injustice in business ethics based on a dominant framework of Iris Marion Young, and criticized them for not being sufficiently sensitive to power dynamics and provided an alternative based on a different interpretation of Young’s work. This included an exploration into the structural connection between corporations and gender and racial injustices (particularly in the legal context).
Work on transnational corporations (the fourth subproject) involved investigating economic production as a space for realizing specific ideas of freedom and analyzed the multinational firm’s specific effects on the freedom of sovereign political communities. Moreover, it developed a diagnostic and normative account of the wrong of value extraction, especially as practiced by corporations. Finally, work on this subproject involved an inqruiy into the property incidents in primary energy to be held by corporate firms and an analysis of the specific ways corporations are constrained to adopt incorrect evaluative views of nature.
Work on the economic/political theory of the firm (fifth subproject) problematized the influential state/firm analogy which political theorists have long relied upon to theorize corporate power. Moreover, it has developed a novel normative account of worker resistance through the analysis of shirking, individual/collective resistance, and labor rights. Finally, it developed proposals for new governance mechanisms to democratize social media corporations through purpose reform and citizen assemblies, as well as an examination of the normative implications of a political account of corporate power for antitrust law.
Exploitation and dissemination: Various events were organized for dissemination. First, due to the Corona pandemic, a series of online speaker events was held in 2020-2022 which attracted a good number of participants (video registrations on the website). After that, three larger (on-site) workshops where scholars presented work in progress (March and May 2022, June 2023), and a Final Conference (May 2025); as well as a range of smaller events. These connected participants from a variety of disciplines to the project team. Further disseminations happened when team members have been on research visits to universities at Sankt Gallen (Switzerland), Oxford (UK), Brown University, (USA), Princeton (US), Barcelona (Spain). The final stage of dissemination is in the publications in the academic literature. To date, 45 publications have been published or accepted (with 20+ still under review), appearing in academic journals such ‘Journal of Politics’, ‘Journal of Law and Political Economy’ and ‘Journal of Business Ethics’. Finally, two dissertations were successfully defended (available open access).
