Corporate Capture of Blockchain Governance

The Banni grassland, of Gujarat state of western India, has emerged as a site of multipronged contestations over land and livelihoods. Structural transformations seek to refashion Kachchh’s economy, society, and nature along capitalist and neoliberal lines threatening the livelihood of the 25000 mobile pastoralists inhabiting the grassland. Embedded within this context, the Salim Mama Youth Course, initiated through the a collaboration between local civil society, research and academic organizations, trains the youth in the region to recognize connections between pastoralism and their ecosystems. It achieves two main goals: firstly, the course attempts to secure the long-term sustainability of the grassland by developing the technical know-how of the youth as well as generating enthusiasm for pastoralism. Secondly, it contributes to the ongoing resistance against state induced corporate capture both practically, by providing information and tools to sustain contestations, and ideologically by reimagining the role and value of pastoralism in the region. This article unpacks the pedagogical approach of the course as a form of active and positive grassroots resistance against neoliberal environmentalism.

Download Full-text

Corporate capture of science?

10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198753261.003.0007 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

David Miller ◽

Claire Harkins ◽

Matthias Schlögl ◽

Brendan Montague

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Science Policy ◽

Corporate Strategy ◽

Conflicts Of Interest ◽

Structural Data ◽

Think Tanks ◽

Policy Debates ◽

Regulatory Systems ◽

Front Groups ◽

Corporate Capture

Science can provide a rationale and a basis for policy decisions; therefore, corporate planners see it as a crucial resource. This chapter draws on our structural data to show how science policy organizations play a role in pursuing corporate strategy. Corporations create ‘sound science’ lobby and front groups, and they fund libertarian and neoliberal think tanks and groupings to attack and undermine scientists. They try to influence and capture public and policy debates on issues related to the regulation of addictive substances or services. Specifically, they help to provide a range of experts and advisors that can be tapped by the policy and decision-making apparatus at the national and EU levels. Regulatory systems at national and EU levels are mostly insufficient to monitor or manage the conflicts of interest that arise as a result.

Download Full-text