New Books Network Matteo Gatti, "Corporate Power and the Politics of Change" (Cambridge UP, 2025)
Jan 25, 2026
Matteo Gatti, a Harvard Law professor and scholar of corporate governance, explores how firms act like governments. He breaks corporate governing into socioeconomic advocacy and government substitution. He covers investor and ESG pressures, workplace-driven change, conservative backlash, and risks to democracy when corporations replace public institutions.
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Corporations As Governing Actors
- Corporations increasingly fill roles once reserved for governments by advocating and delivering services.
- Matteo Gatti calls this shift 'corporate governing' and links it to political dysfunction and firm pressures.
Early Benefits Preceded Legal Change
- Tech firms extended same-sex partner benefits before states recognized those relationships, driven by employee demand.
- Those corporate practices later helped normalize and shape broader legal change.
ESG Investors Pushed Corporate Politics
- Investor pressures, especially ESG asset managers, pushed firms toward broader social commitments.
- These investor demands became a major propulsion for corporate advocacy in the 2010s.
