• Demonstrate a thorough and critical understanding of the corporation and finance as presented in the course literature.
• Analyze problems with relation to the central role of corporations and finance in contemporary society
• Discuss and critically assess own findings and understandings as well as of the course readings

Since the Financial Crisis of 2007-8, a number of key economic institutions have come under increased scrutiny, not least from philosophical and social science perspectives. This course provides the students with philosophical, historical and social scientific approaches to understanding the corporation, finance, financialization, debt and crisis, as well as current approaches to reform them.

The overall aim of the course is to give the students a contextual and critical understanding of the corporation, and finance, as well as their interrelation, as central figures in contemporary society. The course provides the students with an opportunity to bring together the conceptual philosophical toolbox and skills from other courses in order to critically analyse key institutions and practices of the contemporary economy.

Over the last 40 years, the multinational corporation has developed into one of the most powerful economic and political institutions, and the financial sector has become even more central to the way our economy functions, as well as to the evaluation of corporations. The rise of the corporation and the rise of financial markets are centrally interlinked, and has been the driver of economic growth and development as well as crises and recessions. The rise of the contemporary multinational corporation can therefore not be understood without recourse to finance and financialization, and vice versa. This has big consequences for how we understand the political and economic systems, their central institutions, the relation to the state, and many other problematics.

Within political, historical and philosophical studies, it has increasingly been acknowledged that the corporation must be understood not as a purely economic phenomenon, but as a political entity, that is politically constituted and that wields political power both externally and internally over its members. Simultaneously, there has been a growing awareness of the political influence of financial agents such as too-big-to-fail-banks and international financial institutions. Among the dominant economies of the globe, financial trading has come to account for an ever-larger share of total profits in comparison with traditional production of consumer goods. This process has become known as “financialization” and has emphasized the need for understanding the political power of finance.

These developments give rise to questions like: How can we understand the financialized corporation as a political actor? Who are its constituents, owners and stakeholders? How does financialization change the political landscape as well as economic mechanisms? How do we as a society hold such entities accountable for their actions? This course aims to provide students with an opportunity to think about and discuss these issues and how the corporation and finance relate to societal changes more generally.

The literature for the course will mostly be academic texts supplemented with articles from international newspapers and other case material. Classes will focus on student discussion and class discussion. The students are required to be well prepared for each class. Students are required to discuss and debate topics with each other in class.

The literature for the course will mostly be academic texts supplemented with articles from international newspapers such as the New York Times, Financial Times, and the Economist. Classes will focus on student presentations and class discussion. The students are required to be present and to be well prepared for each class. Students are required to present and to debate topics with each other in class.