Economic rationality and social responsibility seldom go hand in hand. The growth of a global economy has placed this conflict in the limelight. The difficulties of governing market players through political means and at a national level have stimulated discussions around the ways in which market forces are to be regulated, and by whom.
The project investigates how new forms of governance for a normative economy - an economic order in which consideration of social, ethical and environmental factors are an integrated part of corporate strategic activity - are created in a system of fragmented political authority. More precisely, models for corporate social responsibility that are expressed through codes of conduct, norms, policies and other voluntary agreements between parties are studied. How is authority for new forms of governance for social responsibility created and maintained? On what grounds are they given legitimacy? The measuring of social responsibility through rating and ranking procedures will also be studied, with a focus on how authority to rank and rate is achieved and how these technologies are given legitimacy. The growth of this private authority structure also raises fundamental questions about the relation between states and civil society and about democratic accountability. The project investigates what multilateral partnerships between private and public organizations and the shift from a state-centric system of governance to pluralistic forms of governance may mean in terms of democratic legitimacy. The project engages researchers and doctoral students from the disciplines of social anthropology, political science, economic history and business management.