Politics & Society

Publisher:
Sage Publications, Inc.
Publication date:
2021-09-06
ISBN:
0032-3292

Latest documents

  • Rethinking Antitrust for the Cloud Era*

    This article asks how antitrust can foster innovation by examining the development of infrastructure for data processing in the cloud. We contrast Amazon Web Services' centralized model with Google Cloud Platform's more decentralized, participatory ecosystem. We argue that rather than trying to reduce the power imbalance between platforms and independent database companies, antitrust should seek to channel platforms from the centralized model toward the decentralized ecosystem by (1) making partnership more attractive than mergers and (2) enlisting open-source foundations to help manage interoperability in the cloud. This requires breaking down the silos between competition, technology, and industrial policy.

  • Prospects for Democratizing the Corporation in US Law*

    This essay examines the prospects for democratizing corporations in the context of US corporate law. US corporate law is “enabling”—it provides enormous latitude to design and alter the rules of corporate governance in almost any way participants see fit. This creates greater room for democratization than is often recognized; at least in principle, there is plenty of room to add employees or other constituencies to corporate boards. Yet board decisions are deeply constrained both by directors’ fiduciary duties and by the values and assumptions underlying US corporate law, all of which are strongly biased toward shareholder primacy. These create ongoing ideological and material barriers in both corporate law and supporting institutions that serve as strong obstacles to democratization.

  • Workplace Democracy, the Bicameral Firm, and Stakeholder Theory*

    Ferreras's bicameral governance proposal for the corporation contributes to a recent wave of interest in democratizing the workplace. In this article, I connect this to a related ongoing movement in favor of the stakeholder approach to corporate purpose. I argue that this connection sheds light on, and may provide remedies for, some issues with the bicameral proposal: first, the risk of gridlock between the two parties in the dual governance structure; second, the indeterminacy of good management when shareholder primacy is abandoned. But I also note that shareholder primacy emerged spontaneously from structural features of the economy, so that special protection for the “good” firms is warranted, and that other key limitations of a market economy cannot be alleviated fully by democratizing the firm.

  • Economic Democracy against Racial Capitalism: Seeding Freedom*

    In conversation with Ferreras’s proposal for economic bicameralism, the current article makes the case for a more direct confrontation between conceptions of economic democracy and the realities of racial capitalism. In particular, it considers how efforts to expand power and voice for workers must contend with the racial hierarchy that marks the socioeconomic division of labor and the related use of racial distinctions to thwart labor solidarity. Focusing on the American context, the argument draws inspiration from the work and vision of two key figures in the unfinished struggle for Black liberation, W. E. B. Du Bois and Fannie Lou Hamer. After recapping core elements of Ferreras’s proposal, the article briefly examines the historical evolution of racial capitalism, starting with its roots in slavery and conquest. It then considers how movements agitating for greater worker power have intervened within this landscape. Against this backdrop, it draws lessons for how economic bicameralism might fit within a broader set of struggles that challenge racial capitalism as it exists today.

  • The Corporation, Democracy, and the Idea of the Bicameral Firm*

    This article introduces this special issue on the bicameral firm. It lays the groundwork by providing a brief overview of the democratic firm in its historical and political context. The article describes the main problems that large undemocratic corporations pose for society; it contrasts the main ways in which theorists and social movements have sought to democratize the firm—from voice-centric models (such as codetermination) to ownership-centric models (such as Employee Stock Ownership Plans and worker cooperatives); and it outlines the historical ebbs and flows of political movements for enhanced workplace democracy. It is within this context that it is fruitful to consider Isabelle Ferreras's powerful proposal for a bicameral firm. The article concludes by considering the real-world prospects for economic bicameralism and highlights a number of questions that Ferreras's proposal motivates us to consider—questions that are urgent and vital for anyone who cares about the future of democracy.

  • Harvesting Influence: Agrarian Elites and Democracy in Brazil

    With size, voting discipline, and technical resources superior to those of most Brazilian parties, in the last two decades, the support of the Agrarian Caucus has become crucial for the realization of presidents’ legislative agenda. In a country where 87 percent of the population is urban, how have representatives of the agrarian elites become key players in bargaining on nonagrarian issues? This article argues that Brazilian agrarian elites have been so successful because they have devised an electoral strategy that maximizes their leverage in a fragmented party system with ideologically weak right-wing parties. Empirically, I show how agrarian elites in Brazil finance legislative campaigns, mobilize voters, and subsidize the legislative work of politicians from their ranks, independently of their partisan affiliation. Theoretically, I discuss the advantages of a candidate-centered electoral strategy: self-representation and multipartisanship. While self-representation has granted agrarian elites direct access to agenda-setting positions within Congress, having members in many parties has increased the number of agenda-setting positions they can control and guaranteed their presence in the legislative coalition of right- and left-wing presidents alike.

  • Harvesting Influence: Agrarian Elites and Democracy in Brazil

    With size, voting discipline, and technical resources superior to those of most Brazilian parties, in the last two decades, the support of the Agrarian Caucus has become crucial for the realization of presidents’ legislative agenda. In a country where 87 percent of the population is urban, how have representatives of the agrarian elites become key players in bargaining on nonagrarian issues? This article argues that Brazilian agrarian elites have been so successful because they have devised an electoral strategy that maximizes their leverage in a fragmented party system with ideologically weak right-wing parties. Empirically, I show how agrarian elites in Brazil finance legislative campaigns, mobilize voters, and subsidize the legislative work of politicians from their ranks, independently of their partisan affiliation. Theoretically, I discuss the advantages of a candidate-centered electoral strategy: self-representation and multipartisanship. While self-representation has granted agrarian elites direct access to agenda-setting positions within Congress, having members in many parties has increased the number of agenda-setting positions they can control and guaranteed their presence in the legislative coalition of right- and left-wing presidents alike.

  • Eviction and Voter Turnout: The Political Consequences of Housing Instability

    In recent years, housing costs have outpaced incomes in the United States, resulting in millions of eviction filings each year. Yet no study has examined the link between eviction and voting. Drawing on a novel data set that combines tens of millions of eviction and voting records, this article finds that residential eviction rates negatively impacted voter turnout during the 2016 presidential election. Results from a generalized additive model show eviction’s effect on voter turnout to be strongest in neighborhoods with relatively low rates of displacement. To address endogeneity bias and estimate the causal effect of eviction on voting, the analysis treats commercial evictions as an instrument for residential evictions, finding that increases in neighborhood eviction rates led to substantial declines in voter turnout. This study demonstrates that the impact of eviction reverberates far beyond housing loss, affecting democratic participation.

  • Eviction and Voter Turnout: The Political Consequences of Housing Instability

    In recent years, housing costs have outpaced incomes in the United States, resulting in millions of eviction filings each year. Yet no study has examined the link between eviction and voting. Drawing on a novel data set that combines tens of millions of eviction and voting records, this article finds that residential eviction rates negatively impacted voter turnout during the 2016 presidential election. Results from a generalized additive model show eviction’s effect on voter turnout to be strongest in neighborhoods with relatively low rates of displacement. To address endogeneity bias and estimate the causal effect of eviction on voting, the analysis treats commercial evictions as an instrument for residential evictions, finding that increases in neighborhood eviction rates led to substantial declines in voter turnout. This study demonstrates that the impact of eviction reverberates far beyond housing loss, affecting democratic participation.

  • State Policy Regimes and Associational Roles in Technology Development: A Tale of Two Metropolises

    The lead trade associations of the bio-pharma and semiconductor industries have differed systematically in their roles in facilitating the development of innovation networks between Shanghai and Shenzhen, two prominent high-tech metropolises in China. Divergent associational roles stem from variations in the regional state policy regime that has exerted differential shaping influence on the structure of social cleavages and strength of reciprocity norms among member firms and on their willingness to actively and cooperatively engage in association-led networking activities. The bio-pharma and semiconductor associations whose network-building roles have been structured differently through varied state policy regimes have displayed dissimilar abilities to reduce network failures and promote the innovation competences of their member firms between the two metropolises. The empirical findings of the article carry important implications for understanding the causes and consequences of varied associational roles in the process of technology development in China, other emerging markets, and beyond.

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