Abstract

Are the current practices of large corporations incompatible with democratic political ideology? Are multinational corporations too powerful to be constrained by democracy in practice? This paper makes a strong case that the answers may be “yes.” For example, large local corporations can constrain the democratic process in small towns on matters such as tax exemption, by threatening to leave the area. also large multinational companies can apply force to national congressional votes on product safety reform by threatening to move home offi ces to other countries (taking their products and tax dollars with them). The author argues that in many cases democracy is not functioning properly due to the power of corporations to constrain the ability of citizens to freely enact laws.