It was while working as an energy lawyer in a busy London firm that I first became aware of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Like many lawyers, I expect, I wasn't sure what to make of it at first. How might CSR and the law inter-relate? Were there legal implications I should be aware of? And where was this all heading? Here, some years later, I have attempted to answer these questions, from the perspective of international law. During the course of my research, I found that the prevailing negativity about the capacity of international law to address contemporary problems of ‘globalisation’ often flowed through into discussions about CSR law and policy. But while this volume began as a critique of international law, I now believe that, while international law certainly has its limitations, it also presents more opportunities for the international regulation of multinationals than many people assume. In this book, I have tried to explain why.

This volume is a revised, expanded and updated version of a thesis submitted for the degree of PhD from the University of Cambridge in 2002. Writing first the thesis, and then this book has been quite a challenge – not least because CSR is such a new and fast-moving area – and there are many people I would like to thank. First of all, I was extremely fortunate to have had the chance to work with Dr Christine Gray at the thesis-writing stage.