The New Corporate Citizen – Masconale and Sepe Explore the Economic and Democratic Implications of Corporations’ Novel Political Activism

In their latest collaboration, Saura Masconale and Simone Sepe examine the current boom in ESG (“Environment, Social, and Governance”) initiatives by corporations, pointing to an understudied trend. Their article, Citizen Corp. – Corporate Activism and Democracy, published in the Washington University Law Review, notes that “activist corporations” increasingly do what citizens do. They now engage with focal points of moral and political disagreement, from gun control to immigration, climate change, reproductive rights, and more. In a nutshell, Masconale and Sepe argue that corporate activism might be incompatible with the rules of democratic engagement. This is because activism gives a few giant asset managers, with controlling interests in most large companies, extraordinary power to influence the adjudication of divisive societal issues, not just within corporations, but in society at large.