When Companies Rule
Corporate Power from the East India Company to Silicon Valley
Date & time
29 October 2026 | 17.30-19.00
Event format
Attend event in person
Event type
Talk / panel debate
Event topic
Business, finance & economics, Money & finance
Audience
Adults, All
Academic discipline
Economic and social history
Venue
The Mitchell Library
North Street
Glasgow G3 7DN
Money & finance theme
What's on offer?
The author of When Companies Rule, Maha Rafi Atal, will discuss her new book and the history and future of corporate power with guest contributors.
What's it about?
When Companies Rule: Corporate Power from the East India Company to Silicon Valley is a new history of corporate power published by Columbia University Press in November 2026. It argues that corporations have been shaping politics, economies and daily life for four hundred years — and that understanding this history is essential to holding powerful companies to account today.
Who's leading the event?
Leading the event is the author of When Companies Rule, Maha Rafi Atal, along with Nelson Cummins (Curator of Legacies of Slavery and Empire, Glasgow Museums), Henry Bell (poet, author of Red Threads: A History of the People's Flag, and founder of Radical Glasgow tours), and Kelly Kollman (Professor of Politics, University of Glasgow).
Open to
Anyone is welcome
Of particular interest to
Those who want to understand how corporations got so powerful and what can be done about it.
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