The Political Turn that Made Total Governance Impossible to Ignore

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Journal of Corporation Law

Journal Abbreviation

J. Corp. Law

Abstract

In their article, Total Governance, Professors Sergio Alberto Gramitto Ricci & Daniel Greenwood respond to the limitations of traditional corporate governance and call for a new model. Recognizing the complex role individuals play with corporations—as shareholders, employees, consumers, community members, and activist— and seek to humanize corporate governance by placing people, rather than narrowly defined stakeholder roles, at the center of corporate decision-making, referring to this participatory model as total governance. Total governance embraces the idea that people can coordinate across roles to influence corporate behavior in line with shared values, not simply focusing on maximizing profits, challenging traditional governance structures and rejecting shareholder primacy, offering a more participatory and values-driven framework for corporate accountability.

Gramitto Ricci & Greenwood critique the current U.S. corporate governance model for failing to reflect liberal republican theory or American values, arguing that this leads to public dissatisfaction and a sense of disenfranchisement. They further argue that social media and online communication enables this intersectional, crowd-based approach by allowing stakeholders to coordinate across traditional categories and prioritize shared human values over role-based interests.

Amid the shifting political landscape, this brief essay explores how today’s political climate has amplified both the appeal and necessity of total governance. Following the publication of Total Governance, the Trump administration has emphasized anti-ESG, anti-DEI, and shareholder-first policies. In essence, the Trump administration has cultivated a political climate that not only manipulates governance in corporate America but requires corporate America to fall in line. However, while corporations change their governance to be more “shareholder” centric, shareholder behavior is also changing; there is growing evidence that shareholders increasingly value stakeholder-aligned action, even when it challenges traditional short-term profit maximization, thereby supporting shareholders’ desire for total governance.

First Page

101

Last Page

112

Publication Date

2025

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