The core of corporate power in Australia

• Published in: Journal of Australian political economy no. 90; pp. 92 - 104
• Main Author: Edwards, Lindy
• Format: Journal Article Book Review
• Language: English
• Published: Sydney Australian Political Economy Movement 22.06.2022; Journal of Australian Political Economy
• Subjects: Business; Business-government relations; Capitalism; Corporate power; Debates; Democracy; Economic aspects; Economics; Heuristic; Neoliberalism; Political aspects; Politics; Power; Power (Social sciences); Public policy; Stock exchanges; Supermarkets; Suppliers; Supply chains; AUSTRALIA; Australia
• ISSN: 0156-5826; 1839-3675

In 2020 my book 'Corporate power in Australia: Do the 1% rule?' was published, just as the pandemic hit. The study had been six years in the making, during which I had conducted detailed research into Australia's 10 most powerful companies and their major clashes with government over ten years. At first glance, the book is a heavily empirical study of the big corporates' success at securing policies that entrench their privileges. It included details of policy initiatives and the chaotic nature of the democratic process, thereby tending to convey the impression that no one is in control, even as corporate interests triumph again and again. However, the detail of the policy debates may have distracted readers from the conceptual and theoretical arguments that were also central to the purpose of writing the book. I wanted to contribute not just a real-world account of why inequalities of wealth and political economic power have been growing, but also a conceptual framework for making sense of those developments, hoping that might nudge political economic debate in a more progressive direction. I wanted to offer a conceptual framework for thinking about the major corporates’ business models and how they interrelated with government, one that would open new ways of thinking about the ‘rise of the 1%’ and what different policies could be pursued. Although I took a light-touch approach to explaining the conceptual moves in the book, the argument had quite considered roots.