Introduction - The Question of Substantive Corporate Obligations for Fundamental Rights

Summary

This chapter begins with a real-life example that sets the scene for the core question engaged in this book: what is the substantive content of the obligations corporations have in relation to fundamental rights? The goal of the book is to develop a general legal analytical framework to answer this question at an intermediate level of determinacy that can guide decision-making in concrete cases. It also considers the institutional changes required to give effect to the framework and render it meaningful. In so doing, it highlights the union of substance, process and institutional design. The chapter outlines the methodological approach I adopt: it combines international and constitutional law; straddles the boundary between public and private law; engages insights from disciplines such as philosophy, economics and political science; and combines the normative and descriptive. The chapter also provides an outline of the structure of the argument in this book and brief description of what is accomplished in each chapter.