Andrew Crane, Dirk Matten and Jeremy Moon have provided business thinkers and scholars a great service. They have systematically analyzed the idea that we see corporations as citizens. While both ‘corporation’ and ‘citizenship’ have been problematic terms for political theory, Crane, Matten and Moon identify a discrete number of important interpretations of these ideas, and they show how the resulting ‘theories’ can be linked into a systemic whole.

Their starting point is that in the 21st century we need a more robust understanding of the political role of corporations in society. They propose the idea of ‘corporate citizenship’ and ‘global corporate citizenship’ as ways forward. As the world gets even ‘flatter’, understanding how corporations play a political role, as well as economic, social and moral roles, is central to the dialogue of how we govern civil society. Citizenship is simply at the heart of the global debate on societal governance, and the main institution that we use to create value for each other, business, must be nearby. Alternatively, seeing corporations as citizens lets us understand ‘citizenship’ for people in more interesting terms. For instance, Crane, Matten and Moon suggest that we need to see the corporation–stakeholder relationship in citizenship terms. Corporations become places where people can engage in the citizenship process. Such a view is much more interesting than the usual debate about the limits of corporate power, and the constant griping of ‘too much’ or ‘too little’ government.