Chapter 8 - The Rise of Corporate Social Responsibility as a Global Norm Informing the Practices of Economic Actors

Summary

This chapter traces the rise of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a global norm informing the practices of international business.While acknowledging historical instances of CSR, the emergence of CSR as a global norm can be traced to the 1970s, with the advent of globalisation, alongside important intersecting developments such as the rise of environmentalism, the growing role of non-state actors in global governance, and the expansion of production into the developing world.Since the 1970s, the scope (from labour to environmental to human rights responsibilities) and geographic reach of CSR expanded to the point that by the late 1990s, CSR attained global normative status.Far from being a linear progression, the meaning and scope of CSR remains contested and manifestations of global CSR reflect broad tendencies in the assignment of responsibility across actors and the role and prominence of the state in the proliferation of collaborative global governance initiatives.