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CSR as governmentality
Vallentin, Steen Murillo, David
Vallentin, Steen
Murillo, David
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Abstract
The paper suggests that current developments in governmental approaches to CSR calls for research strategies that are specialized in exploring the often subtle and intricate mechanisms of liberal and indirect means of steering. New ways of asking questions are called for as government increasingly assumes the role of an empowering facilitator of CSR, not a regulatory enforcer. Government becomes a matter not of providing formal or hard regulation but of enabling and encouraging socially responsible self-regulation by companies. The paper proposes to apply a governmentality analytics to these developments. Using empirical examples from the, mostly competitiveness-driven, field of CSR-government that is emerging within the EU, it presents a conceptual framework for empirical analysis, which strongly emphasises the socially constructed and strategic nature of activities in the field of CSR. Indeed, there is no single and unequivocal answer to the question of what kind of business CSR is to government. CSR is a contested topic and the object of multiple governmental agendas and strategies. The governmentality perspective allows for an open and critical view of government as a ‘beast with many heads’, one that speaks in many voices, some of which are closely associated with the state, some of which are not. Hence, government should be understood not as a centralized, state-controlled process but as a heterogeneous and multidirectional field of actors and networks, rationalities, programmes and technologies.
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Conference proceedings
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2008
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With permission of the license/copyright holder