Corporate State

Abstract

Power in Australia resides in corporate and wealthy interests dominated by Anglo-American capital, which have appropriated the state. Neoliberal power is being used to privatize power and the common wealth, and depoliticize the citizenry. The merging of government and business is the basis for corporatism: the corporate state. The sustainability of the system requires the expansion of private power and wealth, economic growth, and the profitability of corporate interests. The Australian political economy requires ‘free’ access to the world’s capital, markets and resources backed by US hegemonic power.