by David Korten
reviewed by Scott London
The Post-Corporate World:
Life after Capitalism
by David Korten
Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2000
In this trenchant critique of global economics, David Korten argues
that capitalism’s proud claims to being the engine of wealth creation,
the foundation for democracy, and the embodiment of market economics
are exaggerated, if not entirely unfounded. In his view, global
capitalism is an outgrowth of an antiquated, mechanistic worldview that
fails to take account of important social, political, and environmental
factors.
Market theory, as developed by Adam Smith, was an “elegant and coherent
intellectual construction,” Korten observes. It rested on several basic
assumptions, including the idea that buyers and sellers are too small
to influence market prices, that there are no trade secrets, that
sellers bear the full cost of the products they sell and pass them on
in the sale price, and that investment capital remains within national
borders and trade between countries is balanced.
Unfortunately, Korten says, the new globalized economy systematically
undermines each of these prerequisites. Markets and capitalism are
mutually exclusive forms of economic organization since free markets
are self-organizing while global capitalism is centrally controlled by
a relatively small number of economic players - chiefly multinational
corporations. “More than half of the world’s one hundred largest
economies are centrally planned for the primary benefit of the
wealthiest one percent of the world’s people. It is a triumph of
privatized central planning over markets and democracy.”
Korten feels that creating a more equitable, just, and democratic
society requires new metaphors and ways of thinking about economics. A
more enlightened approach would be to conceive of markets in terms of
healthy biological communities since ecosystems are, by nature,
sustainable, diverse, regional, and self-organizing.
The Post-Corporate World is divided into four sections. The first part
- by far the strongest and most substantive - presents a penetrating
critique of the underlying premises of the globalized economy, showing
how they ultimately hasten the breakdown of local community, democratic
self-reliance, and the natural world. At bottom, they also foster an
unhealthy public culture wedded to competition, materialistic values,
and the pursuit of narrow self-interest.
In Part Two, Korten turns to science - biology and systems theory in
particular - to suggest a new way of conceptualizing complex social
systems. Part Three applies these concepts to economic affairs,
suggesting that a healthy, post-corporate world would embrace the ideas
of “mindful markets,” “economic democracy,” “responsible freedom,” and
an expanded idea of human rights. In Part Four, Korten describes a wide
range of trends and initiatives that indicate an important shift is
already underway in the culture, one driven not only by public
resentment toward corporations and such entities as the World Trade
Organization, but also by the search for more life-affirming
alternatives on the part of thoughtful corporate leaders, politicians,
grassroots organizations, and private citizens.
Korten concludes with a six-point agenda for change involving, among
other things, an end to the legal fiction of corporate personhood, the
establishment of an international agreement regulating international
corporations and finance, the elimination of corporate welfare, and the
return of money as a medium of exchange. “The proposed sixfold agenda,”
he says, “attacks the foundation of unaccountable financial and
corporate power and opens the way to a radical redistribution of
economic wealth and power by returning human rights to living person.”
While Korten’s intent here is a good one, his practical agenda for
change raises at least as many problems as it would be likely to solve.
For example, his plan for regulating corporations is sketchy at best.
The whole thrust of the emerging economy, as he illustrates throughout
the book, is that it is organized from the bottom up rather than the
top down. So the question of regulations conflicts with the very
premise of the book. The issue we need to address is what kind of
incentives can be put forward to bring corporations in line with a
better organized and more just and democratic economy in coming years.
Korten’s agenda, impractical and poorly worked out as it is, weakens
what is otherwise a very compelling book, one which I would recommend
to anyone concerned about the direction of the global economy. Korten
admits that his proposals are likely to be fiercely resisted by the
establishment. Nevertheless, he says - and here he has more than a
point - “the unanimity of the present power holders should not be
assumed.” Cracks are now appearing in the elíte consensus, as more and
more corporate leaders, bankers, and even economists acknowledge the
economic dislocation, social instability, and ecological destruction
wrought by globalization.
Scott London is an independent journalist and radio producer with
extensive broadcast experience in the United States and Europe. He is
an associate of the Kettering Foundation, an experienced National
Issues Forums organizer and moderator, and a contributor to various
books, journals and magazines. His writings have been widely published
at home and abroad and translated into six languages. Scott moved to
the United States in 1990 and now makes his home in Southern
California. Visit www.scottlondon.com for a collection of his articles, interviews, reports, book reviews and more.
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