The corporate republic. Complex organisations and citizenship

Abstract

The twentieth century has been the century of complex organisations. However, most contemporary political currents act as if we were still living in the nineteenth century. For many modern liberals, social democrats, and communitarians, the contrast between public and private, between government and market - with civil society as bogeyman or buffer in between - is still the central issue. From the point of view of social and political power, the antithesis between natural persons and corporate bodies, or between citizens and organisations, is nowadays at least as important as the antithesis between government and market. One of the important issues for contemporary political thinkers should therefore be the rise and social dominance of complex organisations. How should we deal with a republic in which corporate bodies dominate? What does citizenship mean in a world ruled by complex organisations? Two possible reactions are explored: citizenship of complex organisations and citizenship in complex organisations.