Adapting Corporate Governance for Sustainable Peace

Abstract

In previous work, we argued that there is a link between corporate governance and the reduction of violence. In this manuscript, we further explore that link with a focus on how corporations can work toward the goal of reduction of violence in the societies in which they operate. Here, we pose the question of how well suited various corporate governance regimes are to face these complexities, and how they can do so in ways that are consistent with their fundamental principles. We focus on the corporate governance regimes of the United States, Germany and Japan. A common denominator of the political entities addressed is a commitment to a political regime of democracy. Section I outlines our thesis that corporations are in a position to make contributions to peace in society because of shifting political balances of power. It elaborates with the idea that our contemporary world has shifted from traditional balance of power conceptions in terms of the near universal embrace of parliamentary democracy requiring some reformulated description of the optimal relations among democracy, peace, and globalization. This section establishes the general parameters of the argument that democracy and peace are linked and that there are serious charges that globalization works against democracy and thereby threatens the sustainability of peace. Section II analyzes comparative models of corporate governance and considers the extent to which contemporary corporate governance models look to peace and workplace security as aims they should achieve. Concluding remarks follow in Section III.