Economic Democracy at Work: Why (and How) Workers Should be Represented on US Corporate Boards

Palladino, Lenore

doi:10.5070/lp61353763

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…As such, democratic accountability cannot rely solely on classically 'political' means of participation and representation such as voting and consultation, but also requires economic democracy. This term has primarily been used in discussing worker power within enterprises (Dahl, 1985;Schweickart, 1992;Palladino, 2021;Cumbers et al, 2022), but has also been used more broadly to describe collective, democratic control over economic resources, markets, and essential goods and services (Hutchinson et al, 2002;Coote and Shaheen, 2012;Johanisova and Wolf, 2012). As feminist and ecological theorists highlight, companies depend on and impact many more people than their workers (Fraser and Jaeggi, 2018).…”

Section: Democratic Accountability a Economic Democracy In Online Mediamentioning

confidence: 99%

Public and private power in social media governance: multistakeholderism, the rule of law and democratic accountability

Griffin

2023

Transnational Legal Theory

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Social media platforms trouble established ideas about the public/private divide. Due to their size, political influence, and abilities to regulate speech at scale, the largest platforms are often compared to governments. Consequently, their unaccountability to the public has prompted widespread concern. This article examines and critiques two related though distinct responses to this tension in academic and policy debates, here characterised as the multistakeholderist and rule of law responses. The multistakeholderist response aims to increase civil society's influence in platform governance through transparency, consultation and participation. The rule of law response -which is increasingly influential in Europe -extends the platform/state analogy to argue that platform governance should follow the same rule of law principles as public institutions.This article evaluates both responses' abilities to make social media platforms more democratically accountable, concluding that both are limited. Both reflect a 'tech exceptionalism' which understands social media companies as different from other companies, and therefore requiring special accountability mechanisms. The proposed solutions -subjecting platforms only to accountability from other private actors, or subjecting them to the same principles as statesoverlook the insights of legal realism and law and political economy: that corporate power is constituted by state regulation. Both responses aspire to strengthen democratic accountability without substantially changing the legal foundations for digital markets or the market structures they have produced, which is unlikely to succeed. Multistakeholderist initiatives will likely exacerbate unequal participation, since abilities to influence platforms through market pressure, public criticism and consultation are highly unequally distributed. Rule of law approaches implicitly approve vast concentrations of corporate power, provided they follow rule of law principleswhich are designed to constrain presumptively democratic states, not to ensure corporations act in the public interest.Instead, the article advocates reforms guided by an ideal of economic democracy, which emphasises democratic control over markets and aims to redistribute ownership and control of media and communications infrastructure. This suggests two areas for intervention: substantive legal constraints on corporate activities such as surveillance advertising, and reforms aiming to promote pluralism in online media by reducing market concentration and providing non-commercial or public-service digital infrastructure.

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Section: Democratic Accountability a Economic Democracy In Online Mediamentioning

confidence: 99%

Public and private power in social media governance: multistakeholderism, the rule of law and democratic accountability

Griffin

2023

Transnational Legal Theory

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Section: Democratic Accountability a Economic Democracy In Online Mediamentioning

confidence: 99%

Public and Private Power in Social Media Governance: Multistakeholderism, the Rule of Law and Democratic Accountability

Griffin

2022

SSRN Journal

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Investing in Innovation

Lazonick

2023

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Business corporations interact with household units and government agencies to make investments in productive capabilities required to generate innovative goods and services. When they work harmoniously, these three types of organizations constitute 'the investment triad'. The Biden administration's Build Back Better agenda to restore sustainable prosperity in the United States has focused on investment in productive capabilities by government agencies and household units. Largely absent from the Biden agenda have been policy initiatives to ensure that, given government and household investment in productive capabilities, the governance of major U.S. business corporations supports investment in innovation. This Element explains how corporate financialization, manifested by predatory value extraction in the name of 'maximizing shareholder value', undermines investment in innovation in the United States. It concludes by outlining a policy framework, beginning with a ban on stock buybacks, that confronts predatory value extraction and puts in place social institutions that support sustainable prosperity.

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Economic Democracy at Work: Why (and How) Workers Should be Represented on US Corporate Boards

Cited by 5 publications

References 36 publications

Public and private power in social media governance: multistakeholderism, the rule of law and democratic accountability

Public and private power in social media governance: multistakeholderism, the rule of law and democratic accountability

Public and Private Power in Social Media Governance: Multistakeholderism, the Rule of Law and Democratic Accountability

Investing in Innovation

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