Suiting Themselves
Encyclopedia
Suiting Themselves: How Corporations Drive the Global Agenda is a 2006 book by Professor Sharon Beder
. Beder argues that an international corporate elite dictate global politics
for their own benefit. She suggests that they created business associations and ‘think tank
s’ in the 1970s to drive public policy
, push a free trade agenda, and promote the worldwide privatization
and deregulation of public services in the 1980s and 1990s, and have worked since the late 1990s to rewrite the rules of the global economy.
Sharon Beder
Sharon Beder is a professor in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Wollongong in New South Wales, Australia. Her research has focussed on how power relationships are maintained and challenged, particularly by corporations and professions...
. Beder argues that an international corporate elite dictate global politics
Global politics
Global politics is the discipline that studies the political and economical patterns of the world. It studies the relationships between cities, nation-states, shell-states, multinational corporations, non-governmental organizations and international organizations.It has been argued that global...
for their own benefit. She suggests that they created business associations and ‘think tank
Think tank
A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...
s’ in the 1970s to drive public policy
Public policy
Public policy as government action is generally the principled guide to action taken by the administrative or executive branches of the state with regard to a class of issues in a manner consistent with law and institutional customs. In general, the foundation is the pertinent national and...
, push a free trade agenda, and promote the worldwide privatization
Privatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...
and deregulation of public services in the 1980s and 1990s, and have worked since the late 1990s to rewrite the rules of the global economy.
Contents
- A corporate class
- National influence
- International Coercion
- Washington Consensus Down Under
- From Public Service to Private Profit
- The Trade Agenda
- Trade in Services
- Coercing Trade Agreements
- Deregulating Investment
- Globalization versus Democracy
- The Triumph of Corporate Rights