Corporations and big businesses are in the early stages of becoming the “new forms of political sovereignty,” according to an American author and journalist who addressed the recent GrainWorld conference in Winnipeg.
Robert Kaplan sees similarities between corporations and the feudal farms that evolved into small nation-states in medieval times.
He said it’s important to study history to see patterns.
“That will make us less surprised by what happens next,” he said.
History shows food shortages don’t come from lack of agricultural production but from distribution problems, wars and political upheavals, said Kaplan.
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He predicted that in the 21st century, “water and food are going to have the political potency that oil had in the 20th century.”
More than half of the 100 largest economies in the world are corporations, noted Kaplan.
The 200 largest corporations employ less than three-quarters of one percent of the world’s workforce, but control 25 percent of the world’s economic activity.
The 500 largest corporations account for 75 percent of world trade, he said.
More political power, as well as economic power, is going into fewer hands with the spate of corporate mergers, he said.
Kaplan called corporations “hybrid regimes,” with chief executive officers who make decisions like dictators, replaced when their decisions don’t produce results.
He thinks the world is becoming more undemocratic, even as more countries assume a democratic structure of government.
“Never judge a system by the name it goes by,” he said, explaining more democracies are being controlled by military or security forces.
Food distribution
In countries with low education and high unemployment, democracy can lead to political upheaval and problems with food distribution, he said.
He reminded the audience that leaders like Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini came to power in democracies. He thinks conditions are ripe for more “disease-variants of democracy.”
Kaplan said the global political situation is similar to conditions before the First World War.
Expectations are rising. Most political upheaval happens during these periods, said Kaplan.
The world has become more urbanized, and more susceptible to changes in food prices and food shortages caused by political upheaval.
Kaplan said he sees some hope in the rebirth of labor movements. In workable democracies, people must be involved and stay vigilant, he said.
“It’s always better to think tragically because if you do, tragedy will not happen.”
