History of corporations and companies in early modern and modern colonialism. Through case studies and independent research, students explore concepts such as the intellectual foundations of corporation theory; legal and jurisdictional pluralism in domestic and international law; state formation and its alternatives; shifting boundaries between public and private authority; the origins and evolution of the joint-stock company; the history of colonialism in the Americas, Asia, and Africa; roots of modern political economy and economic thought; debates over informal and formal forms of empire; decolonization and globalization; the modern multinational and the concept of 'corporate empires.'
