“Fiduciary duty” might not be the first phrase that comes to mind while watching news of the serial uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa, but there is a link. In Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, leaders broke trust with their constituents by suppressing dissent, extracting personal gains, and entrenching ruling cliques. Then a spark—in Tunisia, it was a trove of WikiLeaks documents exposing corruption—combined with social media to fuel grassroots rebellion.
A similar (if more sedate) relationship of trust exists between corporate boards and shareowners. Corporate law captures that idea by identifying directors precisely as agents or fiduciaries—the term ...