The deliberative corporation
Today, many people live in democracies but spend much of their lives working in companiesthat are not democratic at all. In most companies, decisions are made from the top down, andemployees have little to no say over issues that affect their daily working lives. This thesisargues that this mismatch between political democracy and hierarchical authority in theeconomic sphere has far-reaching consequences – not just for workers, but for society as awhole.
It demonstrates how modern corporations, governed primarily in the interest of shareholders,contribute to pressing global challenges such as climate change, growing inequality, anddemocratic backsliding, while simultaneously constraining employees’ freedom inproblematic ways. To address this, the thesis develops an alternative model of corporategovernance – the Deliberative Corporation – that proposes ways to make companies moredemocratic by meaningfully involving employees in decision-making processes at multipleorganizational levels.Drawing on political philosophy – particularly deliberative democratic theory – and supportedby interviews with employees in German companies, the thesis illustrates how practices likeboard-level co-determination, self-organized teamwork, and lottery-based employee forumscan reduce power imbalances between workers and their employers, fostering a workplaceculture built on democratic deliberation, mutual respect, and shared responsibility. In doingso, it calls on deliberative democrats to take the economic sphere more seriously and toacknowledge that business corporations should not be left on the sidelines of democratictheory.
Rather than offering a one-size-fits-all solution, the thesis provides a flexible and pragmaticframework for democratizing corporations. It concludes that more democratic workplaces notonly protect workers’ interests from arbitrary employer interference but also strengthen theirfreedom to act in a self-determined manner with others work.