Description
Divestment campaigns, bank boycotts, and shareholder activism at company Annual General Meetings may not generate the same sensational media coverage as a street rally or blockade. Yet, investment-based protest and lobbying, or ‘political investorism’ (O’Brien et al. 2023) is an increasingly important part of social movements’ repertoires of contention (Tilly and Tarrow 2015). While political investorism is a market lobbying tactic, this paper argues that government action and political investorism are inherently intertwined, due to globalisation, the rising power of corporations, and policy trends that delegate problem-solving to the market. This paper thus considers the role of the state in political investorism, examining instances where the state has challenged the legitimacy of political investorism campaigns including the BDS campaign targeting Israel, environmental activists’ campaign targeting mining companies in Australia, and corporate diversity, equity and inclusion campaigns in the USA. Adapting Hysing’s (2019) propositions for understanding the relationship between political consumerism and the state, this chapter illuminates how the state creates the conditions for political investorism, while also acting to limit or ban forms of investorism.
