Corporate Social Responsibility at the Interface of Business, Law and Politics: Transnational CSR Soft Law in the Global Context

Abstract

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is generally understood as a cluster of normative rules designed to promote the integration of business corporations into the social and environmental contexts in which they operate. This can be done at different levels, from the national, to the international and regional. Given the nature of large corporations today, however, it is above all at the transnational level that CSR takes on the greatest relevance. Here, however, a question arises as to the sources, or basis, of CSR. The standard – quasi-official – understanding of CSR today is that compliance with CSR principles has always been, and remains, voluntary. As such, it is the result of a business decision, taken by a company, to assume obligations that go beyond what the law demands.