The transformative power of human rights and the future of corporate responsibility
Type
presentation
Date Issued
2017
Author(s)
Wettstein, Florian
Abstract
There is a growing discussion on whether business and human rights has anything new and significantly different to add to existing debates on corporate responsibility and – underlying that question – whether it can indeed transform business beyond what such previous discussions were able to achieve. In this contribution I will argue that indeed it can. The discussion on business and human rights is in the process of fundamentally transforming our very thinking on human rights; as such, it is reshaping not only our view of corporations and their social responsibility, but also how they relate – politically – to governments and international bodies. In other words, business and human rights yields implications that reach far beyond the predominantly actor-centered provisions of CSR. Drawing analogies to how human rights movements have transformed our understanding of state autonomy and how they have redrawn (and blurred) fundamentally the line between domestic and foreign affairs in international relations, the transformative power of human rights has the potential to similarly alter our understanding of the private constitution of corporations and their purpose and to redraw similarly fundamentally the line between private and public affairs.
Language
English
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
HSG Profile Area
None
Event Title
IABS 2017
Event Location
Amsterdam
Event Date
29.6.-2.7.2017
Subject(s)
Eprints ID
252818