ABSTRACT:Drawing upon John Rawls's framework inThe Law of Peoples,this paper argues that MNEs have a responsibility to promote well-ordered social and political institutions in host countries that lack them. This responsibility is grounded in a negative duty not to cause harm. In addition to addressing the objection that promoting well-ordered institutions represents unjustified interference by MNEs, the paper provides guidance for managers of MNEs operating in host countries that lack just institutions. The paper argues for understanding corporate responsibility in relation (...) to the specific institutional environment in which MNEs operate. (shrink)

In this article, it is argued that multinational companies (MNCs) that operate in South Africa should include a macroethical perspective in their ethical reflection. MNCs in South Africa are subjected to significant societal changes. At the same time, they are in a position to exert their influence in a way that affects more people than simply their shareholders, clients and employees. It is argued that a macroethical perspective can assist MNCs in coming to terms with these changes by expanding their (...) understanding of their responsibility towards South African society and future generations. (shrink)

The purpose of the present article is to analyse South African listed companies' public reporting in order to contribute to our understanding of how and why companies consider human rights. The empirical analysis is placed in the context of the increasing prominence of human rights as a business issue, premised in part on the activities of the United Nations (UN) Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG) on human rights and business. On the basis of a content analysis of the (...) public reports of the top 100 companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), we test hypotheses focused on the antecedents of companies' demonstrated human rights due diligence, with particular reference to assumptions or findings of the SRSG and institutional theory. Some of our results are unexpected: there is little influence exerted by the sector and size of companies in our sample, and there is also an unexpectedly insignificant impact of company participation in the UN Global Compact and the JSE Socially Responsible Investment Index. On the other hand, a key predictor of human rights due diligence is an explicit leadership commitment, and important roles are also played by government regulations and stock exchange listing rules. (shrink)

We argue that critiques of political process theory are beginning to coalesce into new approach to social movements--a "multi-institutional politics" approach. While the political process model assumes that domination is organized by and around one source of power, the alternative perspective views domination as organized around multiple sources of power, each of which is simultaneously material and symbolic. We examine the conceptions of social movements, politics, actors, goals, and strategies supported by each model, demonstrating that the view of society and (...) power underlying the political process model is too narrow to encompass the diversity of contemporary change efforts. Through empirical examples, we demonstrate that the alternative approach provides powerful analytical tools for the analysis of a wide variety of contemporary change efforts. (shrink)

Since the late 1980s, social scientists have argued that advanced economies have undergone a process of financial concentration that is resulting in a growing unevenness of the accessibility of capital. Households, small and medium-sized businesses as well as non-standard economic activities have increasing difficulties in finding funds. There are both sound economic and compelling moral reasons to address this issue. In order to ensure a more equal accessibility of capital, the author proposes a mandatory levy on the surpluses of mainstream (...) pension funds to fund an alternative financial infrastructure as a first step to redressing unevenness. The underlying rationale is that “financial pluralism” is the key to a more even accessibility of capital. (shrink)