It is commonplace that political power is becoming more centralized and remote: faceless people, sometimes in unknown places, determine our circumstances and our opportunities. This ground breaking book argues that this happened through a slow development which began before globalization. Power in Business and the State queries our freedom to make our own history. Current circumstances may be so far from our own choosing that our history is now being made for us, rather than something we control ourselves. Political power is so centralized, and economic power so concentrated, that popular control of democratic government has become increasingly difficult. The sheer magnitude of the author's research underpinning this book, and the uncluttered methodological framework in which it is presented, provides a highly readable text.