Corporate Social Responsibility in International Law

This article is about a third way, where as a result of mounting public pressure, consumer awareness, and other forces, the MNE is forced to self-regulate in the sphere of human rights (broadly understood) and the environment. This self-regulation and cleansing, undertaken voluntarily by corporations, is known as corporate social responsibility (CSR), or “corporate citizenship.” The latter is used more frequently in a business context, but the two terms are synonymous. Essentially, CSR recognizes that corporations are not only responsible to their shareholders, but owe, or should owe, particular duties to persons or communities directly or indirectly affected by their operations; such persons or communities com- prise a corporation’s “stakeholders.” “Stakeholder theory,” especially as propounded in the United States, recognizes various forms of relation- ships between the enterprise and its stakeholders: primary (employees, customers, investors, suppliers) and secondary (all others). Others refer to them as “core,” comprising those that are essential for the corpora- tion’s survival; “strategic,” i.e. those that are vital to its organization; and “environmental,” which includes all of the remainder. Our effort is to explain the origins and sources of CSR in the context of an emerging international legal personality for MNEs. Moreover, we aim to explore the range of particular CSR principles and the modes of implementation, enforcement, and monitoring. Finally, we examine the viability and success of such measures and the extra-legal parameters of MNE adherence to norms that may be seen as irrelevant or non-binding because of their voluntary character.