Historical Notes
As far as we know, corporatism originated during the Roman period, at least as regards the Western world. The Roman economy, like most other ancient civilisations, was based on compulsory work and on a particular concept of society.
Using Weberian concepts, it was actually closer to the concept of Gemeinschaft (as compared to Gesellschaft) and was quite separate from the idea of the market being the ideal allocator (Holton and Turner 1989: 111-13). According to Max Weber, Gemeinschaft relates to an organisation that is based on subjective, traditional feelings; Gesellschaft is based on a rational agreement by mutual consent (Temin 2004). In a similar way, corporative structures were established in Rome during the Republican era and subsequently in the Imperial era. The Lex Iulia de Collegiis is officially considered to constitute the foundation of Western corporatism. The exact date of this legal act is uncertain but presumably it was issued between 49 bc and 44 bc (De Robertis 1973: 204). It is a fact that Roman corporatism was born during the Republican era as a result of the already existing practice of association and it was only subsequently coded so that it became part of the prolific Roman judicial system. The most important characteristic of ancient corporatism is that it was established as a form of voluntary organisation, and it was not until much later that it became obligatory. This was because the principal objective of Roman law was to safeguard public interest. According to the original regulations, every association had to draw up a statute and appoint those in charge. It had to possess its own assets and administer the law according to the regulations established. Fulfilling the expected legal prescriptions would lead to full recognition on the part of the State and to the acquisition of some advantages available only to practices, which were regulated by economic activities. Between the fourth and fifth centuries ad, corporatism declined and the rules and constraints on which it was based became less binding. The Justinian code that followed conceded even more individual freedom to developing businesses. Hence, the decline of the Roman corporatist structure (Waltzing 1895, vol. II: 320) was not the result of it becoming too rigid. On the contrary, it became too lax in a period of serious economic decline (De Robertis 1973, vol. 2: 231-2).The real triumph of corporatism occurred in medieval times, so much so that the economic recovery that took place in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries coincides with the first examples of Medieval and Christian corporatism. The combination of some elements (among which, the predominantly religious view of the world), the lack of power in the government and the relatively low rate of economic exchanges all benefited the development of an economic corporatist practice. This was subsequently described by a number of writers: from Thomas Aquinus to Antonio Pierozzi, from Uguccione da Pisa to Francesco Zabarella, from Pietro Lombardo to Gaetano (Tommaso da Vio) in addition to various theologists and doctors of Canon law. Finally, a group of merchants all concurred to make up an imposing doctrinal corpus, which subsequently became the social Christian doctrine. This, to all effects, was corporatism (Nuccio 1987).
Medieval Christian corporatism is a form of organisation the main objectives of which were religious. It encompassed practical-institutional aspects and had a very solid theoretical framework based on an organic vision of society and on the theory of bonum commune. It was also based on just prices as well as on the principle of the transience of possessions. For at least three centuries, these features contributed towards economic development and to the creation of important centres of wealth such as Venice, Florence, Bruges and Lyon. Decline followed or, rather, a change in economic conditions meant that the corporatist system gradually became inadequate in terms of solving new problems related to labour, production and the accumulation of capital.
However, its influence remained at least until the eighteenth century and the Napoleonic reforms, above all in the city centres. Note that voluntarism, one of the distinct features pertaining to both mercantilistic and physiocratic theories, also had much in common with the basic corporatist concept of economic life.The main concept persisted even during the Industrial Revolution and while in the nineteenth century numerous forms of associationism and corporatism (without religious objectives) drew unconditionally from medieval corporatism, the Catholic Church introduced the encyclical Rerum Novarum in 1891 deliberately harking back to the main themes of the medieval doctrines. The rebirth of Catholic corporatism at the end of the nineteenth century involved all Catholic countries and influenced other Christian religions until it became an international phenomenon. Among many other writers, it is worth remembering that Karl von Vogelsang (1818-1890) in Austria, Rene de la Tour du Pin (1834-1924) in France, Giuseppe Toniolo (1845-1918) in Italy, and Charles Perin (1815-1905) in the Catholic University of Louvain renewed the scholastic thought on associationism and are considered prominent predecessors of social catholicism (Misner 1991: 446-50). Probably the most remarkable contribution to the modern reassessment of medieval Catholic principles was offered by the German Jesuit Heinrich Pesch (1854-1926). His work was also translated into English and is rightly considered a comprehensive treatise on Catholic corporatism and the foundation of all the other encyclical documents.