- Corporate republic
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A corporate republic is a theoretical form of government occasionally hypothesized in works of science fiction, though some historical nations such as medieval Florence might be said to have been governed as corporate republics. While retaining some semblance of republican government, a corporate republic would be run primarily like a business, involving a board of directors and executives. Utilities, including hospitals, schools, the army, and the police force, would be privatized. The social welfare function carried out by the state is instead carried out by corporations in the form of benefits to employees. Although corporate republics do not exist officially in the modern world, they are often used in works of fiction or political commentary as a warning of the perceived dangers of unbridled capitalism. In such works, they usually arise when a single, vastly powerful corporation deposes a weak government, over time or in a coup d'état.
Some political scientists have also considered state socialist nations to be forms of corporate republics; with the state assuming full control of all economic and political life and establishing a monopoly on everything within national boundaries - effectively make the state itself equatable to a giant corporation.
Corporate Republic in Popular Culture
- In the turn-based strategy game Civilization: Call to Power, a corporate republic is one of the futuristic government types available in the Genetic Age.
- Shinra, one of the antagonists in the RPG Final Fantasy VII could be considered an example of a corporate republic due to its encompassing scope and massive power in planet affairs.
- Max Barry's 2003 novel Jennifer Government portrays a world in which government has been privatised as have all its functions.[1]
References
See also
- Corporatocracy
- Banana republic
- Lanfang Republic - originated as a corporation before becoming a nation.
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