Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-pftt2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-01T07:48:23.227Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Mapping the public/private-law divide: a hybrid approach to corporate accountability

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2016

Ciara Hackett  and
Luke Moffett
Luke Moffett
Affiliation:
QUB, School of Law, Belfast, UK.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Images of oil-covered seabirds or radioactive fallout from nuclear disasters easily evoke concerns over the risks to personal integrity and environmental degradation. The energy-extraction industry, like others, is profit-driven – a competitive enterprise, with little regard for the social impact of its activities beyond corporate social responsibility (CSR) rhetoric. CSR is neither a precautionary measure nor a remedial framework. Outsider stakeholder influence from government is limited and CSR is written on companies’ terms. What emerges is a distortion between companies’ responsibility and accountability for breaches. We propose a hybrid form of accountability that incorporates public international law to ensure the state, as a guardian of society, plays a more definitive role. This will require more binding obligations on states and companies beyond the current soft-law principles, to curtail jurisdictional constraints and forum shopping of large corporations, through an international court of reparations to guarantee effective remedies for victims.

Type
Articles
Information
International Journal of Law in Context , Volume 12 , Issue 3 , September 2016 , pp. 312 - 336
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aaronson, S.A. (2011) ‘Limited Partnership: Business, Government, Civil Society and the Public in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative’, Public Administration and Development 31(1): 50–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aaronson, S.A. and Reeves, J. (2002) The European Response to Public Demands for Global Corporate Responsibility. National Policy Association, online.Google Scholar
Backer, L.C. (2006) ‘Multinationals, Transnational Law: The United Nation's Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations as a Harbinger of Corporate Social Responsibility in International Law’, Columbia Human Rights Law Review 37: 287–389.Google Scholar
Backer, L.C. (2008) ‘Multinational Corporations as Objects and Sources of Transnational Regulation’, ILSA Journal of International and Comparative Law 14: 499–523.Google Scholar
Bakan, J. (2004) The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Blowfield, M. (2005) ‘Corporate Social Responsibility: Reinventing the Meaning of Development’, International Development 81(3): 515–524.Google Scholar
Bowen, H.R. (1953) Social Responsibilities of the Businessman, New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Bradshaw, C. (2013) ‘The Environmental Business Case and Unenlightened Shareholder Value’, Legal Studies 33(1): 141–161.Google Scholar
Carroll, A.B. (1979) ‘A Three Dimensional Conceptual Model of Corporate Social Performance’, Academy of Management Review 4: 497–505.Google Scholar
Carroll, A.B. (1999) ‘Corporate Social Responsibility: The Evolution of a Definitional Concept’, Business and Society 38(3): 268–295.Google Scholar
Carroll, A.B. (2015) ‘Corporate Social Responsibility: The Centerpiece of Competing and Complementary Frameworks’, Organizational Dynamics 44: 87–96.Google Scholar
Chimni, B.S. (2007) ‘The Past, Present and Future of International Law’, Melbourne Journal of International Law 8: 499–515.Google Scholar
Clapham, A. (2010) The Rights and Responsibilities of Armed Non-State Actors: The Legal Landscape and Issues Surrounding Engagement. Oxford: Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights.Google Scholar
Collins, B.E. and Hoyt, M.F. (1972) ‘Personal Responsibility for Consequence: An Integrational Extension of the Forced Compliance Literature?’, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 8(6): 558–593.Google Scholar
Commission of the European Communities (CEC) (2001) COM (2001) 366 Final. Available at: <http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/committees/deve/20020122/com(2001)366_en.pdf>>Google Scholar
Conley, John M. and Williams, Cynthia A. (2011) ‘Global Banks as Global Sustainability Regulators? The Equator Principles’, Law & Policy 33(4): pp. 542–575.Google Scholar
David, E. (2011) ‘Primary and Secondary Rules’ in Crawford, J., Pellet, A. and Olleson, S. (eds) The Law of International Responsibility. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Deva, S. (2013) ‘Treating Human Rights Lightly: A Critique of the Consensus Rhetoric and the Language Employed by the Guiding Principles’ in Deva, S. and Bilchitz, D. (eds) Human Rights Obligations of Business Beyond the Corporate Responsibility to Respect? Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Frank, A.G. (1991) ‘The Underdevelopment of Development’, Scandinavian Journal of Development Alternatives 10(3): 133–150.Google Scholar
Friedman, M. (1970) ‘The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits’, New York Time Magazine. Available at: <http://www.umich.edu/~thecore/doc/Friedman.pdf>..>Google Scholar
Gauci, G.M. (1999) ‘Protection of the Marine Environment through the International Ship-Source Oil Pollution Regimes’, Review of European Community and International Environmental Law 8(1): 29–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Genasci, Matthew, and Pray, Sarah (2008) ‘Extracting Accountability: The Implications of the Resource Curse for CSR Theory and Practice’, Yale Human Rights & Development Law Journal 11: 37.Google Scholar
Giddens, A. (1998) The Third Way: The Renewal of Social Democracy. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Giddens, A. (1999) The Third Way and Its Critics. London: John Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar
Giddens, A. (ed.) (2001) The Global Third Way Debate. London: John Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar
Godfrey, P. C., Hatch, N. W. and Hansen, J. M. (2010) ‘Toward a General Theory of CSRs: The Roles of Benefice, Profitability, Insurance and Industry Heterogeneity’, Business and Society 49(2): 316–344.Google Scholar
Grant, J. Andrew and Taylor, Ian (2004) ‘Global Governance and Conflict Diamonds: The Kimberley Process and the Quest for Clean Gems’, The Round Table 93(375): 385–401.Google Scholar
Grotius, H. (1625) The Law of War and Peace, Book 2, Chapter 17 (XVII). Available at: http://lonang.com/library/reference/grotius-law-war-and-peace/.Google Scholar
Human Rights Watch (1999) The Price of Oil: Corporate Responsibility and Human Rights Violations in Nigeria's Oil Producing Communities.Google Scholar
ICJ Reports (2004) Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Advisory Opinion.Google Scholar
International Convention On Civil Liability For Oil Pollution Damage (1969) Available at: <http://www.imo.org/en/About/Conventions/ListOfConventions/Pages/International-Convention-on-Civil-Liability-for-Oil-Pollution-Damage-(CLC).aspx>..>Google Scholar
International Convention On The Establishment Of An International Fund For Compensation For Oil Pollution Damage (1971) Available at: <http://www.imo.org/en/About/Conventions/ListOfConventions/Pages/International-Convention-on-the-Establishment-of-an-International-Fund-for-Compensation-for-Oil-Pollution-Damage-(FUND).aspx>..>Google Scholar
Kaey, A. (2010) ‘Moving Towards Stakeholderism? Constituency Statutes, Enlightened Shareholder Value and All That: Much Ado about Little’. Available at: <http://ssrn.com/abstract=1530990 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1530990>..>Google Scholar
Kleffner, J.K. (2009) ‘The Collective Accountability of Organized Armed Groups for System Crimes’ in Wilt, H. and Nollkaemper, A. (eds) System Criminality in International Law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kytle, B. and Ruggie, J.G. (2005) CSR as Risk Management: A Model for Multi Nationals, Working Paper of the Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative. Available at: <http://195.130.87.21:8080/dspace/bitstream/123456789/455/1/Corporate%20social%20responsibility%20as%20risk%20management%20a%20model%20for%20multinationals.pdf>..>Google Scholar
Malamud-Goti, J. and Grosman, L.S. (2006) ‘Compensation for Human Rights Violations in Transitional Democracies’ in de Grieff, P. (ed.) The Handbook of Reparations. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 539.Google Scholar
Mallinder, L. and Mcevoy, K. (2011) ‘Rethinking Amnesties: Atrocity, Accountability and Impunity in Post-Conflict Societies’, Contemporary Social Science: Journal of the Academy of Social Sciences 6(1): 107–128.Google Scholar
Mcbarnet, D. (2005) ‘After Enron: Corporate Governance, Creative Compliance and the uses of Corporate Social Responsibility’ in O'Brien, J. (ed.) Governing the Corporation: Regulation and Corporate Governance in an Age of Scandal and Global Markets. London: Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar
Mccorquodale, R. (2009) ‘Corporate Social Responsibility and Human Rights’, Journal of Business Ethics 87(2): 385–400.Google Scholar
McWilliams, A. and Siegel, D. (2001) ‘Corporate Social Responsibility: A Theory of the Firm Perspective’, Academy of Management Review 26(1): 117–127.Google Scholar
Mitchell, L. (1992) ‘A Theoretical and Practical Framework for Enforcing Corporate Constituency Statutes’, Texas Law Review 70(2): 579–643.Google Scholar
Mitchell, R.K., Agle, B.R. and Wood, D. (1997) ‘Toward a Theory of Stakeholder Identification and Salience: Defining the Principle of Who and What Really Counts’, Academy of Management Review 22(4): 853–886.Google Scholar
Moffett, L. (2013) ‘Reparative Complementarity: Ensuring an Effective Remedy for Victims in the Reparation Regime of the International Criminal Court’, International Journal of Human Rights 17(3): 368–390.Google Scholar
Moffett, L. (2014) Justice for Victims before the International Criminal Court. Oxford: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nolan, J. and Taylor, L. (2009) ‘Corporate Responsibility for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Rights in Search of a Remedy’, Journal of Business Ethics 87(2): 433–451.Google Scholar
OHCHR (2012) The Corporate Responsibility to Respect Human Rights: An Interpretative Guide, HR/PUB/12/02.Google Scholar
Pellet, A. (2011) ‘The Definition of Responsibility in International Law’ in Crawford, J., Pellet, A. and Olleson, S. (eds) The Law of International Responsibility. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Protocol on amendments to the protocol on the statute of the african court of justice and human rights national contact points for the oecd guidelines for multinational enterprises (2014) STC/Legal/Min/7(I) Rev. 1, online.Google Scholar
Ratner, S.R. and Abrams, J.S. (2001) Corporations and Human Rights: A Theory of Legal Responsibility’, Yale Law Journal 111(3): 443–545.Google Scholar
Ruggie, J.G. (2007) Business and Human Rights: The Evolving International Agenda: Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative, Working Paper No. 31. Available at: <http://www.hks.harvard.edu/m-rcbg/CSRI/publications/workingpaper_38_ruggie.pdf>..>Google Scholar
Ruggie Principles (2011) UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, A/HRC/17/31. Available at: <http://www.ohchr.org/documents/issues/business/A.HRC.17.31.pdf>..>Google Scholar
Securities And Exchange Commission (2007) ‘SEC Charges Baker Hughes with Foreign Bribery and with Violating 2001 Cease and Desist Order’, press release. Available at: <http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2007/2007-77.htm>..>Google Scholar
Securities And Exchange Commission (2009) ‘SEC Charges KBR and Halliburton for FCPA Violations’, press release. Available at: <http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2009/2009-23.htm>..>Google Scholar
Shamir, R. (2011) ‘Socially Responsible Private Regulation: World Culture or World Capitalism’, Law and Society Review 45(2): 313–336.Google Scholar
Shelton, D. (2005) Remedies in International Human Rights Law, 2nd edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar
Sklair, L. (2001) The Transnational Capital Class. Blackhall: Wiley.Google Scholar
Teubner, G. (2004) ‘Societal Constitutionalism: Alternatives to State Centre Constitutional Theory’ in Joerges, C., Sand, I. and Teubner, G. (eds) Transnational Governance and Constitutionalism, International Studies in the Theory of Private Law Series. London: Hart Publishing.Google Scholar
UNBPG (2005) UN Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law, A/RES/60/147, online.Google Scholar
United Nations Environment Programme (2011) Environmental Assessment of Ogoniland. Available at: <http://www.unep.org/disastersandconflicts/CountryOperations/Nigeria/EnvironmentalAssessmentofOgonilandreport/tabid/54419/Default.aspx>..>Google Scholar
United Nations (2003) UN Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with Regard to Human Rights, 24 UN Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/2003/12/Rev.2. Available at: <https://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/links/res2003-16.html>..>Google Scholar
Van Boven, T. (1993) ‘Study Concerning the Right to Restitution, Compensation and Rehabilitation for Victims of Gross Violations of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms’, E/CN.4/Sub.2/1993/8. Available at: <http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/demo/van%20Boven_1993.pdf>..>Google Scholar
Watts, Michael J. (2005) ‘Righteous Oil? Human Rights, the Oil Complex, and Corporate Social Responsibility’, Annual Review of Environmental Resources 30: 373–407.Google Scholar
Wheeler, S. (2002) Corporations and the Third Way. Oxford: Hart Publishing.Google Scholar
Wilson, Emma and Blackmore, Emma (2013) Dispute or Dialogue: Community Perspectives on Company-Led Grievance Mechanisms. London: International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). See pubs. iied. org/16529IIED. html.Google ScholarPubMed
Yeomans, M. (2004) Oil: Anatomy of an Industry. New York: New Press.Google Scholar
Zegveld, L. (2010) ‘Victims’ Reparations Claims and International Criminal Courts: Incompatible Values?’, Journal of International Criminal Justice 8(1): 79–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zerk, J. (2013) Corporate Liability for Gross Human Rights Abuses: Towards a Fairer and More Effective System of Domestic Law Remedies. Report prepared for OHCHR, 103.Google Scholar
Zerk, J. (2014) ‘Corporate Liability for Gross Human Rights Abuses: Towards a Fairer and More Effective System of Domestic Law Remedies’, OHCHR. Available at: <http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Business/DomesticLawRemedies/StudyDomesticeLawRemedies.pdf>..>Google Scholar