The Democracy Center

Effective action to tackle corporate power requires having the right tools. Part of the Democracy Center’s work is about providing resources that can support corporate campaigners get hold of those tools and use them as powerfully as possible. We hope the following are of use – and we welcome your recommendations on other corporate campaigning resources that you have found helpful.

Resources from the Democracy Center

Unfair, Unsustainable, and Under the Radar

How Corporations use Global Investment Rules to Undermine A Sustainable Future. Published in May 2013 this briefing paper is crucial reading for a wide range of activists looking to challenge the powerful weapons used by corporations under the system of global investment rules and arbitration. These rules, and the threat of legal action they entail, carry a significant chilling effect on the ability and willingness of governments to enact the progressive policies desperately needed for sustainable development.

Getting Action on Climate

A behind-the-scenes look at campaigns that are winning battles across the world. In September 2012 the Democracy Center published a series of seven in-depth profiles on successful and ongoing climate campaigns taking place across the globe, including the fight against fracking and the battle to halt coal in various countries. We looked closely at the strategies they have employed and analyzed how and why they were effective in order to share this wisdom with others taking action on climate change.

Beating Goliath

Published in October 2011 ‘Beating Goliath’ gathers case studies from past successful campaigns to halt corporate abuses. It provides links to many useful resources for activists, and highlights currently ongoing campaigns connected with the fight against climate change through fossil fuel pollution.

See our ‘Materials for Effective Advocacy’ section for more free Democracy Center resources for activists, including on strategy planning, media advocacy and coalition building.

The Network for Justice in Global Investment

One of the most important tools that global corporations use to expand their influence over our lives is a complex web of thousands of global trade agreements. These trade rules give global corporations access to our natural resources and to our local markets and allow those corporate powers to run roughshod over our basic rights as consumers and our environment. Some of the most ominous provisions are those that allow global corporations to sue countries in secretive global trade courts, forcing payment of millions of dollars simply because governments acted to protect their people’s interests.

The Network for Justice in Global Investment – founded by the Democracy Center and the Institute for Policy Studies – is a joint effort by citizens and organizations across the world to challenge these unjust rules governing international investment. Visit the website to read more, watch our video about global trade rules, get access to more resources, and get involved.