CSR, local content and taking control: do shifts in rhetoric echo shifts in power from the centre to the periphery?

Buckler, Sarah

Abstract

In the current climate of increasing rhetoric around protectionism, nationalism and border security versus free movement, transnational corporations are having to negotiate some particularly tricky issues. One of these is the increasing prevalence of local content regulations which are impinging more and more upon the ways those corporations operate, including having an impact upon the scope and nature of corporate social responsibility and sustainable development activities. In this chapter I examine the historical, political and economic context of local content policies, exploring their roots in conflict and the contemporary, contested discourses that lie behind the development of different local content requirements. As local content requirements have become increasingly adopted by countries in the developing world they have displaced activities more generally associated with corporate social responsibility, a move which is synchronous with claims that CSR is a neo-colonial means by which the developed world attempts to continue to exert power over its erstwhile colonies. I explore how this has worked in different contexts, highlighting the rhetorical nature of policy setting, reflecting power struggles on the international stage rather than meaningful or sustainable developments in terms of national or local economies.

Citation

BUCKLER, S. 2021. CSR, local content and taking control: do shifts in rhetoric echo shifts in power from the centre to the periphery? In Vertigans, S. and Idowu, S.O. (eds.) Global challenges to CSR and sustainable development: root causes and evidence from case studies. Cham: Springer [online], pages 87-104. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62501-6_5

• Online Publication Date: Feb 25, 2021
• Publication Date: Dec 31, 2021
• Deposit Date: Jan 30, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 26, 2023
• Publisher: Springer
• Pages: 87-104
• Series Title: CSR, sustainability, ethics and governance
• Series ISSN: 2196-7075 ; 2196-7083
• Book Title: Global challenges to CSR and sustainable development: root causes and evidence from case studies
• ISBN: 9783030625009
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62501-6_5
• Keywords: Corporate social responsibility (CSR); Local content policies; Power dynamics; Colonialism; Neo-colonialism
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/1867139
• Contract Date: Feb 25, 2021