Corporate Social Responsibility in Times of Societal Polarization, Politicization, and Securitization

Éditeurs invités

• Dorothee Maria Winkler, Bern University of Applied Sciences
• David Risi, Bern University of Applied Sciences
• Christopher Wickert, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
• Onna Malou van den Broek, Copenhagen Business School

Synthèse

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has a long and influential history as one of the dominant paradigms in managing the business-society interface. For years, CSR has served as the normative and strategic blueprint for companies in managing growing societal expectations such as climate change, corruption, and inequality, fundamentally shaping corporate behavior across sustainability, ethics, and stakeholder engagement. Over the past decade, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria seemed to be moving from the periphery to the center of attention for companies, and the formalization and legalization of CSR-related criteria have reinforced the importance of corporate responsibility and consolidated its position as a central area of concern for business firms.

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Thèmes proposés

• What responsibilities do firms assume when navigating heightened political and societal tensions?
• What does "responsible" corporate behavior mean in today's polarized global political economy?
• How is CSR evolving to address the complex moral and strategic challenges of an increasingly divided world?
• Do corporations counter populist and illiberal politics, or primarily align with dominant power structures?
• How do firms recalibrate ESG and CSR commitments while maintaining legitimacy across diverse stakeholders?
• Which role does CSR play in specific industries such as defense industrial complex, including defense-focused tech firms?
• To what extent has CSR enabled corporate political activity (CPA) that influences democratic governance in ways that advance corporate interests?
• How do new forms of "reverse CSR" or politically adaptive responsibility emerge?
• How does the geographical context influence the conceptualization of CSR?
• Is CSR diffusing from autocratic to democratic contexts as a tool of political signaling rather than social progress?
• How do the underlying philosophical and epistemological assumptions of CSR differ across contexts?
• How can established theoretical perspectives account for geopolitically fragmented CSR models?
• How can nationalistic or "Western populist" CSR be conceptualized in a priori democratic contexts?
• What theoretical frameworks need to be developed to account for the instrumentalization of CSR for national and geopolitical purposes?
• Which role does CSR play in contexts of violent conflict?
• How do security demands shape CSR's definition and scope?
• What new priorities emerge when CSR is applied in the defense industry, particularly regarding process vs. product dimensions?
• How do polarization, politicization, and securitization collectively shape CSR trajectories, and what role do businesses, governments, and other stakeholders play?
• How do businesses weigh and prioritize imperatives posed by polarization, politicization, and securitization, and how does this influence their CSR agendas?
• How do businesses recalibrate their CSR strategies to account for new and competing societal priorities?
• How do governments integrate these dynamics when devising or revising CSR regulations?
• Do we see emerging surveillance states arising from mutually beneficial collaborations between the defense-industrial complex (including tech firms) and governments?
• Do we observe any sidelining or dismantling of international institutions and cooperation structures established after the Second World War?
• How do societal stakeholders navigate this nexus when formulating expectations towards businesses and exerting pressure?