Corporatism

In my studies at Yonsei (ISM 2107 Politics and Business in Korea), and recently at a course I took on the side POLS 18 Government and Politics of Latin America at CCSF, I have often come across this term called corporatism. 

I'm like what exactly is this?  So, during class, I looked up the definition on my Android, and found the Wikipedia entries as defined by political scientist:

• corporatism (political scientist definition) - the process of licensing and regulation by a state for incorporating social, religious, economic, or popular organizations into a single collective body.
• state corporatism (political scientist definition) - states co-opt business leadership, or circumscribe the ability to challenge state authority by establishing organizations as the source of their legitimacy, or by governing the state through corporations.

In Latin American politics, the general term is used, but in East Asian politics, particularly Korea, the state-corporatism definition is used when referring to the term.  Wikipedia also lists these definitions:

• corporatism - system of economic, political, or social organization that views a community as a body based upon organic social solidarity and functional distinction and roles amongst individuals (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporatism)
• state corporatism - a political culture which is a form of corporatism whose adherents hold that the corporate group which is the basis of society is the state (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_corporatism)

However, of all the terms, I have to love Apple's Dictionary on Mac OS X, which lists:

• corporatism - the control of a state or organization by large interest groups.