Democracy, Citizenship and Corporate Governance Reform: How to Deal with the Internationalization of Corporate Activity (original) (raw)
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International quasi-constitutionalism and corporate citizenship: language, troubles, dilemmas
Why are companies increasingly adopting the language of 'citizenship' to describe themselves? This is the issue taken up in this article. It is suggested the claims and forms of address in respect to 'global corporate citizenship' are part of wider governance moves in the internationsl system, associated with a certain constitutional terminology and moves to progressively juridicalize the international arena. The article explores the forms of these moves as regards company activity in particular, and illustrates the difficult consequences of the processes being described from the point of view traditional international law and corporate governance.
The transnational and corporate citizenship theory
Journal of Corporate Citizenship, Vol. 27, pp. …, 2009
A recent conceptualisation of corporate citizenship by Matten and Crane (2005) shifts focus onto the corporation's role in providing individuals with the rights they are entitled to as citizens. This expanded corporate role is depicted as filling an institutional vacuum resulting from the withdrawal of the state. Marking an innovation to the corporate citizenship literature, we devise a three-part analytical framework from political institutionalism to question the concept's ideological and empirical groundings. Incorporating a constrained game theory perspective, we use an example of the provision of Western corporate services by low-labour-cost nation-states to argue that the concept as strategy would in some circumstances exacerbate the implications of globalisation on individual citizenship rights. The analytical framework has application for research directed toward proposals to extend the reach of corporations in traditional public services and, more generally, for studies of corporate responsibilities. Future research on corporate citizenship would be strengthened in recognising, as we do, institutional incentives, constraints, decision-making modes and resources as used by the transnational corporation.
2021
In Corporate Citizen: New Perspectives on the Globalized Rule of Law, editor Oonagh E. Fitzgerald brings together contributors to explore how the notion of corporate global citizenship has enabled corporations to evade responsibilities and liabilities and block or weaken measures that might increase corporate accountability. This volume serves a valuable purpose in demonstrating the far-reaching and multi-faceted problems surrounding the governance of transnational corporations, writes Christie McLeod, and is recommended to anyone interested in corporate governance, corporate liability and corporate social responsibility
Business Ethics Quarterly, 2005
This paper investigates whether, in theoretical terms, corporations can be citizens. The argument is based on the observation that the debate on 'corporate citizenship' (CC) has only paid limited attention to the actual notion of citizenship. Where it has been discussed, authors have either largely left the concept of CC unquestioned, or applied rather unidimensional and decontextualized notions of citizenship to the corporate sphere. The paper opens with a discussion of the nature and role of metaphors for business and of the contestable nature of the political concept of citizenship. It considers corporations as citizens in terms of (a) legal and political status; and (b) participants in civic processes. These issues are addressed through a four-dimensional framework of democratic citizenship offered by Stokes . The analysis suggests that corporations do not easily fit the liberal minimalist model of citizenship. It finds, however some possibilities for fit with the three more participatory models. There is fit with the most important of these, civic republicanism , through the activity of participation in social affairs. The paper finds that corporations can share in two levels of participation (by acting as pressure groups and by participating in governing). There are also possibilities of corporations sharing the characteristics of developmental and deliberative citizenship, though these raise particular evaluative issues. The paper concludes by refuting the notion of corporations having citizenship by virtue of legal and political status, but maps out specific criteria by which we might determine whether corporations could be considered as citizens by virtue of their participation in processes of governance.
The Nature of Corporate Governance: The Significance of National Cultural Identity
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The thesis of this book argues that national corporate governance is extremely important for societies. Recently many scholars have said that a convergence of corporate governance is inevitable. We believe that it is true but like Mark Twain said "the report of my death was an exaggeration". We show that although there is some convergence national law of corporate governance is thriving. We also believe that it is necessary for the identity of each country. The reason that national diversity in corporate governance is still widespread is because of the history, philosophy and economy of each county as shown in its cultural heritage and it gives its identity. The cultural heritage in each state is identifiable in the Company Law and Corporate Governance Codes. We consider that this is crucial for the well being for democratic nations. Convergence in corporate governance is a threat to ordered commercial regulations because of the power of the preeminent economic paradigm in the West which is the neo-liberal model. The neo-liberal agenda that predicates deregulation, privatisation and the liberalisation of markets is moulding many jurisdictions into an Anglo-American model of corporate governance which is dangerous for a number of reasons; 1 Corporate governance global economics: the neo-liberalism paradigm.
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Harvard International Law Journal, 2005
It would seem to be a relatively uncontroversial claim among scholars, activists,and policymakers that corporations are significant contributors to the shape and content of national and transnational regulation and that their contributions have significant effects on social welfare. Yet, despite this general consensus, scholars have focused little attention on explicating the precise mechanisms through which corporations contribute to transnational regulation and governance or the extent to which the social welfare effects of regulation and policy may be attributable to corporate activity. In this Article, I suggest the broad contours of a methodology for beginning to think about the question, “How do corporations govern in the transnational arena?” In so doing, I explore how scholarly attention to the role of corporations in transnational regulation and governance can contribute to the development of a richer understanding of the functioning and effects of the existing transnationa...
Citizenship, Inc.: Do We Really Want Businesses to Be Good Corporate Citizens?
corporate citizenship, corporate social responsibility, business ethics, business and society , 2008
Who does not believe that businesses today should aspire to be good “corporate citizens”? This way of talking about responsible business is commonplace and ubiquitous. But what exactly does this mean? Are there any advantages to thinking and speaking about ethical business in the language of citizenship? Is there anything substantial about the idea of “citizenship” that helps up to better clarify or understand corporate responsibilities? We will address these questions in part by looking at the possible relevance of a vast literature on individual citizenship that has been produced by political philosophers over the last 15 years. Our initial conclusions are partly cautionary. Some of the central elements of citizenship do not seem to apply straightforwardly to corporations. For example: although participating in politics may be part of virtuous citizenship for individuals, we have good reason to worry about the effects of allowing corporations to wield too direct an influence over electoral politics. “Citizenship” also typically implies membership in a state and an identity akin to national identity (in several languages “citizenship” and “nationality” are synonymous); but this connotation of the concept of citizenship is also problematic for corporations, which typically expect to spread seamlessly over national borders, routinely adopting new identities in their new markets. On the other hand, the language of citizenship does help to focus our attention on various legal and political virtues (or vices) of corporations – topics that have been largely neglected by discussions under other rubrics, such as CSR or sustainability. We finish with an evaluation of the potential benefits and costs of conceptualizing and talking about ethical business practices in the language of citizenship.
Incorporating the corporation in citizenship: A response to Norman and Néron
This article presents a response to Norman and Néron's contention that the language of citizenship is helpful in thinking about the political dimensions of corporate responsibilities. We argue that Norman and Néron's main conclusions are valid but offer an extension of their analysis to incorporate extant streams of literature dealing with the political role of the corporation. We also propose that the perspective on citizenship adopted by Norman and Néron is rather narrow, and therefore provide some alternative ways in which corporations and citizenship might be brought together. We conclude by suggesting that rather than simply applying the concept of citizenship to corporations, we now need to go further in exploring how corporations might play an active role in reconfiguring the whole notion of citizenship itself.