The Post-Corporate World: Life After Capitalism

DAVID KORTEN’S NEW book challenges the foundation of capitalism's claim to legitimacy by demonstrating that it is destroying real wealth, democracy and markets at every turn. It builds a bold case that it is within our means to create a post-corporate, post-capitalist world and argues that deep change is imperative to the survival and prosperity of our species.

The book is divided into four parts. Part I traces the historical evolution of European rationalism and illustrates how the idea of spirit, consciousness and life itself was excluded from scientific thought and how, with the industrial revolution, this materialistic attitude was incorporated into all aspects of our industrial and social world. Korten examines the ways in which capitalism erodes the conditions necessary to the market's efficient social function, and explains the extent to which markets and capitalism are mutually exclusive forms of economic organization.

Part II shares insights from the new biology which reveals life's inherent capacity to organize itself. The author traces conventional science's interpretation of life and discusses the more recent idea of self-organizing organisms and bio-communities as metaphors for social, economic and institutional change. Interconnectedness and interdependence are the core ideas in this section. Six "ancient wisdom” lessons are outlined in Chapter 6, followed by a systematic and refreshing "system design” for a post-corporate world.

Part III examines in greater detail the nature of the institutional and policy choices we must make in order to eliminate the economic pathology that plagues us and create truly democratic, market-based, life-centred societies. Korten relates the Buddhist concept of "mindfulness” to economic markets, and outlines Adam Smith's own suggestions for a healthy market economy. The central problem of global capitalism is described in terms of institutional relationships that concentrate the power of ownership in the hands of an economic aristocracy that is disconnected from community interests and has no accountability. Korten traces the emergence of corporate rights and the consequent fading of individual rights, and argues for stakeholder ownership, setting out steps for restoring the rights of the living.

Part IV looks at the processes already building momentum behind a radical metamorphosis to a civilization able to function in balance and harmony with itself and the living systems of the planet. Korten discusses these issues in relation to case studies of "ordinary heroes” who have made a difference in altering community priorities and acceptance of government decisions and the place of women. Networks of organizations are also used to illustrate the way in which these processes are occurring globally, and alternative health systems are contrasted to illustrate the fundamental world views at work in the dynamic of change. Korten argues for a two-fold strategy within our everyday lives: withhold resources from the institutions of capitalism and build sustainable community-based alternatives for meeting our needs. The Epilogue discusses an emerging planetary consciousness – the possibility of a global civil society based on cooperation and voluntary simplicity which is, arguably, the only option to global capitalism as it stands today.