Social contracts and multinational corporations: knowledge tools to promote sustainable civilization

Abstract

Presents the argument that materials may be found in a study of the history of political philosophy that provide a solid foundation for the establishment of standards of environmental sustainability, labour and human rights that are binding upon multinational corporations. Social contract theories of government are founded upon natural laws binding upon all rational individuals, and contracts among individuals intended for their mutual benefit. If the rational basis of government is appropriately interpreted in these terms, and if corporations can be shown to be individuals of the appropriate sort that stand to benefit from government, then corporations take their place among participants in social contracts. Consequently, the officers of national corporations ought to be compelled to act in accord with the laws of the nations in which the corporations reside (an unsurprising result), and the officers of multinationals ought also to act in accord with broader international standards that are suggested by natural law (a more surprising result). Multinational entities are rationally compelled to adhere to such standards because of their unique ability to enact the social contract multinationally. The standard of natural law applied internationally suggests that multinational corporations should be required to maintain standards that represent a regard for globally sustainable society, and not merely the standards maintained by the countries in which specific business processes occur.