Property, Power and Politics: Why We Need to Rethink the World Power System

Property, Power and Politics is a revolutionary work that rethinks globalisation as a power system feeding from, and in competition with, the state system.

Globalisation is an extraordinary phenomenon affecting virtually everything in our lives. And it is imperative that we understand the operation of economic power in a globalised world if we are to address the most challenging issues our world is facing today, from climate change to world hunger and poverty.

Cutting across disciplines of law, politics and economics, it explores how multinational enterprises morphed into world political organisations with global reach and power, but without the corresponding responsibilities.

In illuminating how the concentration of property rights within corporations has led to the rejection of democracy as an ineffective system of government and to the rise in inequality, Robe offers a clear pathway to a fairer and more sustainable power system.

‘An analysis of the modern world synthesising law, history and politics in a way that no one else has tried before. Practically every page presents some new facts, historical insight or conceptual innovation. Robe is interested in solutions as much as in analysis. This is a real tour de force by one of the most original, deep thinkers, today.’ - Ronen Palan, City University London

‘To say that this work is multidisciplinary does not do it justice. It uniquely integrates the dynamics of state sovereignty, corporate globalisation, property rights, and public as well as private law, to illuminate the workings of a multidimensional world power system that needs to be understood before it can be democratically governed.’ - John Ruggie, Harvard Law School