Much like transitions to democracy over the past four decades transformed governments from mostly authoritarian to mostly democratic, we are currently witnessing a transformation of global corporations from a more or less opaque shareholder-centric model to a more transparent multi-stakeholder model.

The 1970s witnessed the beginning of a global trend toward the democratization of authoritarian and totalitarian regimes. This first appeared in Greece with a coup that led to democracy, continued in Portugal and culminated in Spain with a paradigmatic transition from Franco to democratic government. To this day all three countries continue to be thriving democracies.

The trend continued into the next three decades. Starting with the Polish Solidarity movement and epitomized by the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, democratization swept through the former Soviet bloc. Likewise, today most of Latin America can claim the democratic mantle. Successful transitions occurred in such diverse places as South Africa, the Philippines, Indonesia, Mongolia and even Iraq.

The yearning for greater political transparency and accountability continues sometimes tragically, as Iran currently exemplifies. The case of China remains a unique experiment in the liberalization of economics but not politics. Despite some business-related legal reforms, China may remain the exception that proves the rule.

As to global companies, increased government pressure and stakeholder demands for accountability (from employees, investors, customers, non-governmental organizations and others) are creating a similarly catalytic turning point that is beginning to yield a more transparent business model.

[continued] Op-Ed Contributor – Business and the Way of Democracy – NYTimes.com.