Corporate Power and the Politics of Change

Examines the growing role of corporations in shaping public policy through advocacy and corporate action. Explores the business, societal, and political implications of this shift and offers a timely framework for understanding how corporate power intersects with governance, regulation, and democratic legitimacy-often provoking backlash.

In Corporate Power and the Politics of Change, Matteo Gatti examines how corporations have taken on roles traditionally reserved for governments – advocating on social issues, setting internal norms, and stepping in where public institutions fall short. This phenomenon, called corporate governing, takes two forms: socioeconomic advocacy, when companies take public stances, and government substitution, when they deliver services or protections the state does not provide. Drawing on legal doctrine and insights from the social sciences, Gatti shows how this shift reflects broader pressures within firms and deep dysfunction outside them. The rise of corporate governing has also triggered political, legal, and cultural backlash that challenges its legitimacy and reach. Clear-eyed and timely, this book offers a framework for understanding how corporate power reshapes policymaking and what that means for business and democracy.