A Corporatist State 2024 – 28 x 29 x 26cm, plaster, wire, jute
Free of unions and public bureaucracy, corporation’s next step after privatising cities is targeting entire countries, the rubric comes under a term coined by libertarians as ‘countrypreneurship’ where public services are deemed ‘small potatoes’ and entire nations are viewed as sites for economic experiments in corporate governance. For this to happen you need an ‘exit’ plan that removes the constraints and restrictions placed on corporations by social democracies. Countries that pride themselves on protecting citizens with stringent regulatory frameworks prevent market distortions by establishing a level playing field such as the EU’s Single Market. In the case of Brexit 12 Freeports and 74 Special Economic Zones have been turbocharged for development by focusing on land-grabbing of entire regions including the cities contained within them. A predatory tactic of corporations is to work with Govt’s by lobbying them with the expectation of getting something in return for their investments, the most lucrative line of business today is in governance itself. To enact the changes that corporations are seeking, a pincer movement is required to entrap public services, and local councils by rendering them bankrupt through chronic underfunding, the infrastructure of communities and public services are effectively hobbled, this paves the way for private equity, and corporations both foreign and domestic to seize their moment.