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11 - Financial actors and instruments in the construction of global corporate social responsibility

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 September 2009

Michael R. MacLeod
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor Department of Humanities & Social Science Clarkson University
Alnoor Ebrahim
Affiliation:
Harvard University, Massachusetts
Edward Weisband
Affiliation:
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
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Summary

Introduction

A great deal of attention has been paid in recent years to the increasing role and power of multinational corporations (MNCs) and the apparent lack of accountability they have to the international community at large. There has been a tremendous growth in the numbers of these large companies and an acknowledgment of their critical importance to the global economy (Koenig-Archibugi, 2004). In terms of influence, one familiar argument is that such firms are criticized for the power they have over economic policies: states compete with each other to attract foreign investment capital, the so-called “race to the bottom” thesis in which legal and regulatory standards are purportedly compromised in this competition. A related and increasingly common line of criticism is that the advent of global capitalism has not been matched by the development of governance mechanisms that can adequately oversee if not restrain the excesses of its primary agents, i.e. transnationally active firms. Indeed, holding such corporations accountable for actions (or inactions) that harm (or are perceived to harm) society has become a focal action point.

Many people thus believe that the central nexus in the debate over the future of capitalism itself surrounds the extent to which corporate interests can and should be made more accountable, if not subservient, to broader societal interests.

Type
Chapter
Information
Global Accountabilities
Participation, Pluralism, and Public Ethics
, pp. 227 - 251
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2007

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