Corporate Social Responsibility Through the Global Compact: Between Business and Society

• Author: Eduardo Gomes - Nadja de Souza - Larisa Zaitseva - Olga Abakumova
• Position: Fluminense Federal University (Niterói, Brazil) - Fluminense Federal University (Niterói, Brazil) - Tyumen State University (Tyumen, Russia) - Tyumen State University (Tyumen, Russia)
• Pages: 93-115

BRICS LAW JOURNAL Volume IV (2017) Issue 4

COMMENTS

CoRPoRaTE SoCIaL RESPonSIBILITY THRouGH THE GLoBaL CoMPaCT:

BETwEEn BuSInESS anD SoCIETY

EDUARDO GOMES,

Fluminense Federal University (Niterói, Brazil)

NADJA DE SOUZA,

Fluminense Federal University (Niterói, Brazil)

LARISA ZAITSEVA,

Tyumen State University (Tyumen, Russia)

OLGA ABAKUMOVA,

Tyumen State University (Tyumen, Russia)

DOI: 10.21684/2412-2343-2017-4-4-93-115

Corporate social responsibility of business is becoming an increasingly relevant subject

of research in political science, sociology, economics and law. The social responsibility

of business is becoming the object of close attention of both governmental and non-

governmental organization s, and the priori ty of its develop ment is provided a t the

national, supranational and international levels.

This article considers the political and legal dimensions of the model of corporate social

responsibility implemented through the Global Compact as an unprecedented private

initiative of the United Nations. A study of the social consequences of the Global Compact

oers the opportunity to observe the development of an extremely important initiative: the

dissemination of practices and models of corporate social responsibility and the possible

implications of this action for society, for business and for the United Nations itself.

Corporate social responsibility, having an internal and external dimension, social and

political content, goes far beyond the formal legal aspect. At the same time, states,

BRICS LAW JOURNAL Volume IV (2017) Issue 4 94

including the BRICS countries, interested in developing corporate social responsibility

practices, by legal means, in one way or another contribute to the development of the most

promising practices of the social responsibility of business from their point of view.

The United Nations pays special attention to the private sector as a promising tool for

responding to new problems arising within the international environment. The principles

formulated by the United Nations in the Global Compact are reected and developed

in the documents of other international organizations, and then in the programs and

regulatory documents of the participating countries, and, of course, in the various codes

of large and medium-sized corporations.

Keywords: BRICS countries; corporate social responsibility; Global Compact.

Recommended citation: Eduardo Gomes et al., Corporate Social Responsibility Through

the Global Compact: Between Business and Society, 4(4) BRICS Law Journal 93–115

(2017).

Introduction

In an internat ional conte xt charac terized by globaliz ation in the eco nomic,

political, social and cultural elds, the United Nations has deepened its relationship

with the private sector, stimulating debates which have polarized into two groups:

(a) a group which believes that such a relationship can be constructive, since it

attracts legitimacy and resources into the organization, strengthening a multilateral

governance structure and making it more democratic; and (b) a group which believes

that such a relationship is full of risk, since it can delegitimize the organization

before the international community, because it treats in an equal manner actors

with dierent economic, political and social weights, which might open the way to

accusations of conicts of interest and favoritism.

In the context of a close association between the UN and the private sector,

with an increase in the power of large corporations, Ko Annan, then Secretary-

General of the UN, called upon businessmen to join the UN in a “global compact of

shared values and principles, which will give a human face to the global market,”1

the so-called Global Compact.

The Global Compact is a voluntary, personal initiative of Ko Annan, former

Secretary-General of the UN, aimed at absorbing the values of Corporate Social

Responsibility (CSR) into the organization. The Global Compact now comprises ten

principles linked to human rights, labor rights, environmental protection and anti-

corruption strategies. The central idea is to form networks, by means of an open

1 Ko Annan’s address to World Economic Forum in Davos, 1 February 1999 (Nov. 14, 2017), available at

https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/speeches/1999-02-01/ko-annans-address-world-economic-

forum-davos.