In this paper, I map the territory in terms of the different emphases that CSR-related research puts on the state. Despite evidence that suggests that the state plays an important role as an actor in CSR, the majority of research on CSR focuses on contexts where the state plays at best the role of a stakeholder of corporations. I argue that the neglect of the state is particularly evident in normative research on CSR and I explore what a normative model of CSR that overcomes this neglect would have to look like. I suggest that one option is to develop a notion of political CSR that extends its research focus by providing a normative theory of lobbying, that critically reconsiders its restriction to voluntary arrangements, and that rethinks the appropriateness of the normative political model on which its theoretical framework rests.
This paper sets out to explore venues for taking normative analysis in CSR one level down from the postnational to the national level and for ‘tightening' it from voluntary to postvoluntarist conceptions. The goal is a) to overcome the deficit of normative orientation in research on the interaction between corporations and governmental institutions and b) to reflect on a normative model of democracy that prepares the ground for postvoluntarist forms of CSR.
The interaction between corporations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) has become an important topic in the debate about corporate social responsibility (CSR). Yet, unlike the vast majority of academic work on this topic, this book explicitly focuses on clarifying the role of NGOs, not of corporations, in this context. Based on the notion of NGOs as political actors it argues that NGOs suffer from a multiple legitimacy deficit: they are representatives of civil society without being elected; the legitimacy of the claims they raise is often controversial; and there are often doubts regarding the legitimacy of the behaviour they exhibit in putting forward their claims. Set against an extended sphere of political action in the postnational constellation this book argues that the political model of deliberative democracy provides a meaningful conceptualization of NGOs as legitimate partners of corporations and it develops a conceptual framework that specifically allows distinguishing legitimate partner NGOs from two related actor types with whom they share certain characteristics but who differ with respect to their legitimacy. These related actor types are interest groups on the one hand and activists on the other hand. In conclusion it argues that a focus on the behaviour of NGOs is most meaningful for distinguishing them from interest groups and activists.
Das weitverbreitete Verständnis der Aussenpolitik von Unternehmen als reine Machtpolitik mittels Lobbying zielt an der Realität vorbei, denn genauso wie moderne Staaten sich in ihrer Aussenpolitik längst nicht mehr nur auf die Sicherung des eigenen Überlebens konzentrieren, so engagieren sich auch moderne Unternehmen aussenpolitisch über die Wahrung ihrer unmittelbaren Geschäftsinteressen hinaus. Kurz: moderne Unternehmen beschränken ihre Aussenpolitik nicht auf den Erhalt oder Ausbau von Macht, sondern nutzen sie auch dazu, um Verantwortung zu übernehmen.
