Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T05:01:11.283Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Post-Westphalia and Its Discontents: Business, Globalization, and Human Rights in Political and Moral Perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

Michael A. Santoro
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

This article examines the presuppositions and theoretical frameworks of the “new-wave” “Post-Westphalian” approach to international business ethics and compares it to the more philosophically oriented moral theory approach that has predominated in the field. I contrast one author’s Post-Westphalian political approach to the human rights responsibilities of transnational corporations (TNCs) with my own “Fair Share” theory of moral responsibility for human rights. I suggest how the debate about the meaning of corporate human rights “complicity” might be informed by the fair share theory. While I point out that Post-Westphalians and moral philosophers may have fundamental disagreements about basic concepts such as legitimacy, justice, and democratic deliberation, I conclude that the Post-Westphalians have made a major contribution to the expansion of the field by presenting business ethicists with an opportunity to inform and guide debates about the potential future course of transnational governance.

Type
Responses to BEQ’s Special Issue on the Changing Role of Business in Global Society
Information
Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , April 2010 , pp. 285 - 297
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abbott, K. W., and Snidal, D. 2000. “Hard and Soft Law in International Governance,” International Organization 54(3): 421–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ackerman, B. 1980. Social Justice in the Liberal State. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Beck, U. 2000. What is Globalization? Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Benhabib, S. 2006. Another Cosmopolitanism. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernstein, S., and Cashore, B. 2007. “Can Non-State Global Governance be Legitimate? An Analytical Framework,” Regulation and Governance 1: 1–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BHRRC (Business and Human Rights Resource Center). 2008. Protect, Respect and Remedy: A Framework for Business and Human Rights. Available at http://www.business-humanrights.org/Documents/RuggieHRC2008. Accessed April 7, 2008.Google Scholar
Blumberg, P. I. 2002. “Asserting Human Rights against Multinational Corporations under United States Law: Conceptual and Procedural Problems,” American Journal of Comparative Law 50: 493–529.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braithwaite, J., and Drahos, P. 2000. Global Business Regulation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brenkert, G. 2009. “Google, Human Rights, and Moral Compromise,” Journal of Business Ethics 85: 453–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bull, H. 1977. The Anarchical Society: A Study of Order in World Politics. New York: Columbia University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, T. 2006. “A Human Rights Approach to Developing Voluntary Codes of Conduct for Multinational Corporations,” Business Ethics Quarterly 16: 255–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chandler, A. D., and Mazlish, B., eds. 2005. Leviathans: Multinational Corporations and the New Global History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clapham, A. 2006. Human Rights Obligations of Non-State Actors. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clapham, A., and Jerbi, S. 2001. “Categories of Corporate Complicity in Human Rights Abuses,” Hastings International and Comparative Law Review 24 (2000–2001): 339–49.Google Scholar
Collingvood, V. 2006. “Non-Governmental Organizations, Power and Legitimacy in International Society,” Review of International Studies 32: 439–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corporate Complicity & Legal Accountability. 2005. Report of the International Commission of Jurists Expert Legal Panel on Corporate Complicity in International Crimes. Geneva.Google Scholar
Cragg, W., ed. 2005. Ethics Codes, Corporations and the Challenge of Globalization. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Crane, A., Matten, D., and Moon, J. 2008. Corporations and Citizenship. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cranston, M. 1973. What Are Human Rights? New York: Tappinger Publishing.Google Scholar
Cutler, A. C. 2001. “Critical Reflections on the Westphalian Assumptions of International Law and Organization: A Crisis of Legitimacy,” Review of International Studies 27: 133–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dahl, R. A. 1998. On Democracy. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
DeGeorge, T. 1993. Competing with Integrity in International Business. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Deva, S. 2004. “Acting Extraterritorially to Tame Multinational Corporations for Human Rights Violations: Who Should ‘Bell the Cat,’” Melbourne Journal of International Law 5: 37–65.Google Scholar
Donaldson, T. 1989. The Ethics of International Business. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Donaldson, T., and Dunfee, T. W. 1999. Ties that Bind: A Social Contracts Approach to Business Ethics. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.Google Scholar
Donnelly, J. 2002. Universal Human Rights in Theory and in Practice, 2nd ed. Ithaca N.Y.: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Donnelly, J. 2004. State Sovereignty and Human Rights. Denver: University of Denver Graduate School of International Studies.Google Scholar
Donnelly, J. 2007. International Human Rights, 3rd ed. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Dryzek, J. S. 1999. “Transnational Democracy,” Journal of Political Philosophy 7(1): 30–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunfee, T. 1996. “On the Synergistic, Interdependent Relationship of Business Ethics and Law,” American Business Law Journal 34(2): 317–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dworkin, R. 1985. Law’s Empire. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Dworkin, R. 2006. Is Democracy Possible Here? Principles for a New Debate. Princeton N.J.: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Enderle, G., ed. 1999. International Business Ethics: Challenges and Approaches. South Bend, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press.Google Scholar
Esty, D. C. 2006. “Good Governance at the Supranational Scale: Globalizing Administrative Law,” Yale Law Journal 115: 1490–1562.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fort, T. L., and Schipani, C. A. 2004. The Role of Business in Fostering Peaceful Societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giddens, A. 1990. Consequences of Modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Habermas, J. 1996. Between Facts and Norms: Contributions to a Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Habermas, J. 2001. The Postnational Constellation. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Hart, H. L. A. 1963. The Concept of Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Haufler, V. 2001. A Public Role for the Private Sector: Industry Self-Regulation in a Global Economy. Washington D.C.: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.Google Scholar
Held, D. 2006. Models of Democracy, 3rd ed. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Hsieh, N. 2009. “Does Global Business have a Responsibility to Promote Just Institutions?” Business Ethics Quarterly 19: 251–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hillman, A. J., Keim, G. D., and Schuler, D. 2004. “Corporate Political Activity: A Review and Research Agenda,” Journal of Management 30: 837–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Human Rights Council. 2007. Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG) on the Issue of Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises: Addendum. Corporate Responsibility under International Law and Issues in Extraterritorial Regulation. New York: United Nations.Google Scholar
Hurrell, A. 1999. “Power, Principles and Prudence: Protecting Human Rights in a Deeply Divided World,” in Human Rights in Global Politics, ed. Dunne, T. and Wheeler, N. J.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 277–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Irwin, D. A. 2002. Free Trade under Fire. Princeton N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Kaul, I., Conceiçâo, P.Le Goulven, K., and Mendoza, R. U., eds. 2003. Providing Global Public Goods. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kinley, D., and Tadaki, J. 2003–2004. “From Talk to Walk: The Emergence of Human Rights Responsibilities for Corporations at International Law,” Virginia Journal of International Law 44(4): 931–1023.Google Scholar
Kobrin, S. J. 2009. “Private Political Authority and Public Responsibility: Transnational Politics, Transnational Firms, and Human Rights,” Business Ethics Quarterly 19: 349–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Korten, D. C. 2001. When Corporations Rule the World, 2nd ed. San Francisco: Berret-Koehler.Google Scholar
Krasner, S. 1982. “Structural Causes and Regime Consequences: Regimes as Intervening Variables,” International Organization 36(2): 185–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leisinger, K. M. 2009. “Corporate Responsibilities for Access to Medicines,” Journal of Business Ethics 85: 3–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matten, D., and Crane, A. 2005. “Corporate Citizenship: Towards an Extended Theoretical Conceptualization,” Academy of Management Review 30: 166–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
May, L. 1992. Sharing Responsibility. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
McGrew, A., ed. 1997. The Transformation of Democracy. London: Polity Press.Google Scholar
McGrew, A., ed. 2003. “Models of Transnational Democracy,” in The Global Transformations Reader, 2nd ed., ed. Held, D. and McGrew, A.Cambridge: Polity Press, 500–13.Google Scholar
Nickel, J. W. 2007. Making Sense of Human Rights, 2nd ed. Malden: Wiley Blackwell Publishing.Google Scholar
Norman, W., and Néron, P.-Y. 2008. “Citizenship Inc.: Do We Really Want Businesses to Be Good Corporate Citizens?” Business Ethics Quarterly 18: 1–26.Google Scholar
OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development). 2000. Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, rev. 2000, vol. 2006. Paris.Google Scholar
Paine, L. S. 1994. “Law, Ethics, and Managerial Judgment,” Journal of Legal Studies Education 12(2): 153–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palazzo, G., and Scherer, A. G. 2006. “Corporate Legitimacy as Deliberation: A Communicative Framework,” Journal of Business Ethics 66: 71–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palazzo, G., and Scherer, A. G. 2008. “Corporate Social Responsibility, Democracy, and the Politicization of the Corporation,” Academy of Management Review 33: 773–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palmer, R. R., Colton, J., and Kramer, L. 2002. A History of the Modern World, 9th ed. New York: Knopf.Google Scholar
Ratner, S. R. 2001. “Corporations and Human Rights: A Theory of Legal Responsibility,” Yale Law Journal 111: 443–545.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rawls, J. 1971. A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Risse, T. 2004. “Global Governance and Communicative Action,” Government and Opposition 39(2): 288–313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruggie, J. 2007. “Business and Human Rights: The Evolving International Agenda,” American Journal of International Law 101: 819–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Santoro, M. A. 2000. Profits and Principles: Global Capitalism and Human Rights in China. Ithaca N.Y.: Cornell University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Santoro, M. A. 2006. “Human Rights and Human Needs: Diverse Moral Principles Justifying Third World Access to Affordable HIV/AIDS Drugs,” North Carolina Journal of International Law and Commercial Regulation 31(4): 923–42.Google Scholar
Santoro, M. A. 2009. China 2020: How Western Business Can—and Should—Influence Social and Political Change in the Coming Decade. Ithaca N.Y.: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Scherer, A. G., and Palazzo, G. 2007. “Toward a Political Conception of Corporate Responsibility: Business and Society Seen from a Habermasian Perspective,” Academy of Management Review 32: 1096–1120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scherer, A. G., and Palazzo, G. 2008a. “Globalization and Corporate Social Responsibility,” in The Oxford Handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility, ed. Crane, A.McWilliams, A.Matten, D.Moon, J., and Siegel, D.Oxford: Oxford University Press, 413–31.Google Scholar
Scherer, A. G., and Palazzo, G., eds. 2008b. Handbook of Research on Global Corporate Citizenship. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scherer, A. G., Palazzo, G., and Baumann, D. 2006. “Global Rules and Private Actors: Toward a New Role of the Transnational Corporation in Global Governance,” Business Ethics Quarterly 16: 505–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scherer, A. G., Palazzo, G., and Matten, D. 2009. “Introduction to the Special Issue: Globalization as a Challenge for Business Responsibilities,” Business Ethics Quarterly 19: 327–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scholte, J. A. 2005. Globalization: A Critical Introduction, 2nd ed. New York: Palgrave.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sen, A. 2009. The Idea of Justice. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Shue, H. 1996. Basic Rights, 2nd ed. Princeton N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Smith, Jeffery D. 2009. “Internet Content Providers and Complicity in Human Rights Abuse,” in Ethical Theory and Business, 8th ed., ed. Beauchamp, T.Bowie, N., and Arnold, D.Upper Saddle River N.J.: Prentice Hall, 442–54.Google Scholar
Spar, D. L., and La Mure, L. T. 2003. “The Power of Activism: Assessing the Impact of NGOs on Global Business,” California Management Review 45: 78–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spiro, P. J. 1996. “New Global Potentates: Nongovernmental Organizations and the ‘Unregulated’ Market Place,” Cardozo Law Review 18: 957–69.Google Scholar
Suchman, M. C. 1995. “Managing Legitimacy: Strategic and Institutional Approaches,” Academy of Management Review 20: 571–610.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vagts, D. F. 1970. “The Multinational Enterprise: A New Challenge for Transnational Law,” Harvard Law Review 83(3): 739–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vanterpool, R. V. 1988. “Hume on the ‘Duty’ of Benevolence,” Hume Studies 14(1): 93–110.Google Scholar
Vazquez, C. M. 2005. “Direct vs. Indirect Obligations of Corporations Under International Law,” Columbia Journal of Transnational Law 43: 927–59.Google Scholar
Vogel, D. 2006. The Private Regulation of Global Corporate Conduct. Working paper series, Paper 34. Center for Responsible Business, University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Waldron, J. 2000. “The Role of Rights in Practical Reasoning: ‘Rights’ versus ‘Needs,’” Journal of Ethics 4(1): 115–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weissbrodt, D., and Kruger, M. 2003. “Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises with Regard to Human Rights,” The American Journal of International Law 97 (October): 901–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, O. F. 2000. “A Lesson from the Sullivan Principles: The Rewards for Being Proactive,” in Global Codes of Conduct: An Idea whose Time Has Come, ed. Williams, O. F.Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 57–82.Google Scholar
Windsor, D. 2004. “The Development of International Business Norms,” Business Ethics Quarterly 14(4): 729–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Young, I. M. 2004. “Responsibility and Global Labor Justice,” The Journal of Political Philosophy 12: 365–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zimmerman, M. 1996. The Concept of Moral Obligation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar