Shareholder Democracies?: Corporate Governance in Britain and Ireland before 1850
Mark Freeman, Robin Pearson, and James Taylor
Abstract
Understanding the challenges of corporate governance is central to a comprehension of the economic dynamics driving corporations today. Among the most important institutions in capitalism today, corporations and joint-stock companies had their origins in Europe during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. And as they became more prevalent, the issue of internal governance became more pressing. At stake—and very much contested—was the allocation of rights and obligations among shareholders, directors, and managers. This account of the development of corporate governance in Britain and Irela ... More
Understanding the challenges of corporate governance is central to a comprehension of the economic dynamics driving corporations today. Among the most important institutions in capitalism today, corporations and joint-stock companies had their origins in Europe during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. And as they became more prevalent, the issue of internal governance became more pressing. At stake—and very much contested—was the allocation of rights and obligations among shareholders, directors, and managers. This account of the development of corporate governance in Britain and Ireland during its earliest stages highlights the role of political factors in shaping the evolution of corporate governance as well as the important debates that arose about the division of authority and responsibility. Political and economic institutions confronted similar issues, including the need for transparency and accountability in decision making and the roles of electors and the elected, and this book emphasizes how political institutions—from election procedures to assemblies to annual reporting—therefore provided apt models upon which companies drew readily.
Keywords:
corporate governance,
corporations,
capitalism,
joint-stock companies,
shareholders,
directors,
managers,
accountability,
transparency
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2011 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780226261874 |
| Published to Chicago Scholarship Online: February 2013 |
DOI:10.7208/chicago/9780226261881.001.0001 |
