This book provides a critical socio-legal study that brings together the latest scholarly advances on corporate social responsibility, and, at the same time, addresses the pressing issue of corporate liability for harmful acts across the supply and production chains.
Corporations have seldom been held responsible and virtually never liable for the acts of their subsidiaries and subcontractors. Actors as different as workers, investors, individual consumers, and shareholder activists claim that corporations should accept greater responsibility for communities and environments affected by their activities.
The book argues that a global value chain's head corporations remain immune to any liability because of the 'economically dependent-legally independent' relationships between core corporations and their periphery suppliers and subcontractors. To tackle this problem, globally, the author acknowledges that 'we' as a society need to reduce the economic dependence as described above - which is far too excessive - by ensuring a level playing field both economically and socially. More concretely, she argues that in order to realise transnational corporate liability, 'we' as lawyers need to find a way (or ways) to establish legally effective relationships between head corporations and their economically dependent entities.
Readers of this book will be able to export the concept of corporate social liability, developed in the context of value chains, and apply it to other contexts involving corporate activities where they need to tackle unrestrained corporate freedom and make global businesses responsible and socially useful.
Rezensionen / Stimmen
A thought-provoking book ... Beyond its legal reach, the book, written in the midst of an unprecedented public health and socio-economic crisis, provides a perceptive account of our society's dominant values and contributes to paving the way towards a mindful and sustainable recovery from the pandemic. -- Claudia Pharaon, Leiden University * International and Comparative Law Quarterly * This book is a sophisticated addition to what Socio-Legal Studies has to offer to the formulation of legal policy towards the harmful effects of TNCs. It very interestingly suggests the gains in theory and policy that may be made from giving GSCs, so far largely a feature of business literature, such prominence in legal discussion. -- David Campbell, Lancaster University * Frontiers of Socio-Legal Studies * This book is a very welcome contribution to business and human rights and one which scholars and practitioners in the field will no doubt find useful. The book provides us with an impressive and critical survey of legal tools already available to combat corporate irresponsibility, as well as the social and historical context through which GVCs emerged. -- Marisa McVey, Queen's University, Belfast * Business and Human Rights Journal * This is an important book. Anna Aseeva's study of corporate social liability brings together comparative legal scholarship with a socio-legal assessment of the ways in which corporate responsibility for societal issues is regulated across global value chains. She demonstrates that we, as lawyers, can influence corporations' behaviour if we look beyond legal liability and acknowledge the ex ante effects of norms. * Vanessa Mak, Chair in Civil Law, Leiden University, the Netherlands * Aseeva deftly examines the shortcomings of existing soft and hard law for preventing and addressing environmental, human rights and other social harms of business conducted through GVCs and puts forward innovative ideas for filling these governance gaps. Her book is an important contribution to the literature on corporate accountability and should be required reading for Business and Human Rights scholars and students, as well as legislators concerned with the excesses of global capitalism and corporate impunity. * Penelope Simons, University of Ottawa *
Sprache
Verlagsort
Verlagsgruppe
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Zielgruppe
Für höhere Schule und Studium
Maße
Höhe: 154 mm
Breite: 232 mm
Dicke: 12 mm
Gewicht
ISBN-13
978-1-5099-4914-4 (9781509949144)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Klassifikation
Anna Aseeva is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law and Administration at Lazarski University, Warsaw, Poland.
Autor*in
Lazarski University, Poland
PART I
ON THE LIMITS OF LAW AND A LIMITLESS GLOBALISED MARKET
1. Introduction
I. Meet Corporate Social Liability
II. Why Corporate Social Liability?
III. What does Corporate Social Liability Cover?
IV. The Book's Approach and Methods
V. Structure of the Book
2. Setting the Stage: Corporate Responsibility in Context
I. The Corporate Responsibility Debate in its Historical Context
II. Ideational Context: The Impact of the Washington Consensus
III. Economic Context: Centre, Semi-Periphery and Periphery of Global Value Chains
IV. Organisational Context: Global Value Chain Governance
V. Social Context: CSR Standards for and within Global Value Chains
VI. The Advent of International Standards
VII. The Many Shades of Voluntary Standards and Corporate Self-Regulation
VIII. The Rise and Fall of CSR
PART II
THE SHORTCOMINGS OF CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY AND OBSTACLES TO CORPORATE LIABILITY
3. National Law: Shades of Publicness in Private Regulation
I. Corporate Law
II. Tort Law and Contract Law
III. Commercial Law
4. Post-national Law: Mandatory Disclosure, Environmental and Human Rights Due Diligence, and Supply Chain Liability
I. Supranational Law
II. International Law
PART III
CORPORATE LIABILITY IN THEORY AND PRACTICE: RECENT APPROACHES AND AN INTRODUCTION
TO CORPORATE SOCIAL LIABILITY
5. Corporate Liability in International Comparison 9
I. Legislative Landscape
II. Litigation Landscape
6. Analysis of Avenues for Corporate Social Liability in Global Value Chains
I. Common Criteria for Founding Liability: An Overview
II. Further Criteria for Founding Liability: Various Relevant Practices
III. Conceptual Prospects for Corporate Social Liability in Global Value Chains
PART IV
PITFALLS AND THE FUTURE OF CORPORATE SOCIAL LIABILITY IN GLOBAL VALUE CHAINS
7. Liability through Judicialisation, Legalisation, and Alternative Dispute Settlement
I. General Direct Liability
II. A(n) (Im)Possibility of Judicial Assertiveness: A General Duty of Care for Global Value Chains
III. Legalisation through Legislation: Liability Disciplines in Current French and Dutch Law
IV. Transnational CSL Legalisation: Bangladesh Accord and Bangladesh Alliance
V. Alternative Dispute Resolution through International Investment Arbitration
VI. Enforcing Corporate Social Liability ex ante
8. The Reality and Prospects of European and International Law of Corporate Liability in Global Value Chains
I. European Law
II. International Business and Human Rights Framework: Guiding or Binding the Global Business?
9. On the Gap-filling Corporate Social Liability (and its Gaps)
I. The Pitfalls of International Arbitration for Realising Transnational CSL
II. The Limits and Opportunities of the Interface of Domestic Private Law with Public International Law
III. Whither Corporate Social Liability?
Conclusion: Where Do We Stand and Is There a Way Forward?
I. Where Do We Stand? 3
II. The Way Forward
III. Final Concluding Remarks
