Title: Business and transnational norm-building in post-Westphalian global politics

Authors: Wolfgang Hein

Addresses: German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA), IAS, Rothenbaumchaussee 32, D-20148 Hamburg, Germany

Abstract: Political rules implemented by nation states limit the options of private enterprises to maximise profits. Globalisation has broken up the congruence between political and economic space; companies can evade political rules by using greater flexibilities of production, finance and marketing. The negotiation and implementation of international social and environmental standards have remained at best fragmentary - not only because of business resistance, but also because developing countries with few other locational advantages were afraid of losing competitiveness. On the other hand, business cooperates to attain minimum standards, preferably through voluntary action. Transnational corporations from emerging economies are increasingly integrated in global economic networks which tend to assimilate their normative orientations to those of global peers (attracting customers, winning political support, preventing others from exploiting low standards). This could support the socialisation of emerging economies into global norm-building processes.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility; CSR; globalisation; global society; hybrid norm-building; transnational authority; emerging powers; post-Westphalian global politics; socialisation; emerging economies.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBGE.2015.074342

International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics, 2015 Vol.10 No.3/4, pp.208 - 229

Received: 12 May 2014
Accepted: 27 May 2015

Published online: 23 Jan 2016 *

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