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"Why and under which conditions do companies voluntarily adopt high social and environmental standards? Christian Thauer looks inside the firm to illustrate the internal drivers of the social conduct of business. He argues that corporate social responsibility (CSR) assists decision-makers to resolve managerial dilemmas"--

"Im Folgenden werden zunächst die verschiedenen Forschungsstände zu Thukydides in der Geschichtswissenschaft und in den Internationalen Beziehungen dargestellt. Die entscheidende Frage ist dabei, welche Rolle die Art von Machtpolitik in der 'Geschichte' spielt, wie sie von Athen im Melier-Dialog definiert wird. Aus Sicht der Internationalen Beziehungen bedeutet dies, dass es um die Theorietradition des Realismus in Bezug auf Thukydides' Werk geht. Zwei Interpretationslinien lassen sich herausarbeiten, eine 'realistische' und eine 'realismuskritische'. Die 'realistische' Interpretation überträgt die aus dem heutigen Kontext stammende Annahme zwischenstaatlicher Anarchie auf den antiken Text. Deshalb geht sie davon aus, dass Moral, Ethik und Normen keinerlei Bedeutung in der internationalen Politik haben können. So kann sie Thukydides auf die Stellen, die realistisches Gedankengut in Reinform zu repräsentieren scheinen, verkürzen. Alle anderen Textstellen, die ganz offensichtlich 'Normatives' beinhalten, werden dagegen einfach ignoriert. Die 'realismuskritische' Lesart hebt demgegenüber die Bedeutung von eben jenen 'normativen' Elementen im Werk hervor und behauptet, Thukydides fordere eine moralische Zügelung von Machtpolitik. Allerdings vermag es diese Interpretation nicht, die Funktion, die einer solchen Zügelung für eine erfolgreiche Außenpolitik in den damaligen ‚internationalen' Beziehungen zukommt, begreifbar zu machen. Welche Rolle spielen diese 'normativen' Elemente für den Gang der Geschichte, wie ihn Thukydides aufschrieb? Angesichts dieser Unzulänglichkeiten, die sich in beiden Interpretationslinien auftun, argumentiere ich für einen neuen Interpretationsansatz, der die Forschungen zur antiken internationalen Ordnung einbezieht. Der Beitrag skizziert diesen Ansatz und diskutiert im Fazit seine Möglichkeiten und Grenzen." (Textauszug)

"The analysis of Thucydides as a joint effort of both ancient historians and political scientists found a welcome audience in the context of Cold War scholars in the 1980s and 1990s. Since the close of the Cold War, however, there has been little in the way of a concentrated scholarship renewing this interdisciplinary dialogue. This book, the second of two monographs exploring Thucydides, consists of contributions by world-class scholars on Thucydides' legacy to the political process as understood by both ancient and modern historians and political scientists. It also includes a careful examination of the usefulness and efficacy of the interdisciplinary approach to political order in the ancient world and proposes new paths for the future of such study"--

This article considers attempts by multinational corporations to provide services in areas of limited statehood. Under which conditions are such attempts effective? We make two arguments: First, they must be legitimate to be effective. Second, the institutional design of the firms' service provision programs is an important factor for their effectiveness. We assess these arguments by analyzing multinationals in the South African car industry fighting HIV/AIDS, and international mining firms in South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo trying to improve public security. The analysis demonstrates that under conditions of legitimacy and high degrees of institutionalization firm programs effectively contribute to service provision in areas of limited statehood.

This article considers attempts by multinational corporations to provide services in areas of limited statehood. Under which conditions are such attempts effective? We make two arguments: First, they must be legitimate to be effective. Second, the institutional design of the firms' service provision programs is an important factor for their effectiveness. We assess these arguments by analyzing multinationals in the South African car industry fighting HIV/AIDS, and international mining firms in South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo trying to improve public security. The analysis demonstrates that under conditions of legitimacy and high degrees of institutionalization firm programs effectively contribute to service provision in areas of limited statehood. Adapted from the source document.

This paper explores the role of the state for an effective engagement of multinational corporations (MNCs) in corporate social responsibility (CSR). In the OECD context, the "shadow of hierarchy" cast by the state is considered an important incentive for MNCs to engage in CSR activities that contribute to governance. However, in areas of limited statehood, where state actors are too weak to effectively set and enforce collectively binding rules, profit-driven MNCs confront various dilemmas with respect to costly CSR standards. The lack of a credible regulatory threat by state agencies is therefore often associated with the exploitation of resources and people by MNCs, rather than with business' social conduct. However, in this paper we argue that there are alternatives to the "shadow of hierarchy" that induce MNCs to adopt and implement CSR policies that contribute to governance in areas of limited statehood. We then discuss that in certain areas such functional equivalents still depend on some state intervention to be effective, in particular when firms are immune to reputational concerns and in complex-task areas that require the involvement of several actors in the provision of collective goods. Finally, we discuss the "dark side" of the state and show that the state can also have negative effects on the CSR engagement of MNCs. We illustrate the different ways in which statehood and the absence thereof affect CSR activities of MNCs in South Africa and conclude with some considerations on the conditions under which statehood exerts these effects.

Der Standortwechsel von Firmen in Länder mit niedrigen Sozialstandards wird in der Regel als treibende Kraft des abwärtsgerichteten regulativen Wettbewerbs zwischen Staaten angesehen. Es gibt allerdings eine Vielzahl von Fällen in denen genau das Gegenteil passiert: Firmen halten sich freiwillig an Sozialstandards (CSR) und üben sogar Druck auf Regierungen aus, um striktere Regulierung zu erwirken. In diesem Arbeitspapier zeigen wir, unter welchen Bedingungen Firmen zur Verwirklichung anspruchsvollerer Sozialstandards in Ländern mit geringer regulativer Kapazität beitragen. Zunächst stellen wir Hypothesen aus der bereits existierenden Literatur vor und arbeiten ihre Erklärungskraft für die hier diskutierte Problematik heraus. Das Arbeitspapier untersucht die Reaktion der südafrikanischen Textil- und Automobilindustrie auf die HIV Pandemie. Die südafrikanische Regierung hat nur begrenzte Kapazitäten aufgebracht, um sich gegen die Verbreitung des Virus zur Wehr zu setzen. Unter welchen Bedingungen versuchen Firmen den Staat im Kampf gegen HIV/AIDS zu unterstützen? ; Firms relocating production to countries with lower social standards are regarded as driving force behind the regulatory 'race to the bottom'. However, there are numerous instances in which the behavior of firms reveals just the opposite: They adhere to self-regulatory standards (CSR) and even pressure governments to issue stricter public regulations. We intend to identify the conditions under which firms contribute to higher regulatory standards in states with weak regulatory capacities, thereby following a 'race to the top' rather than a 'race to the bottom'- logic. Theoretically, we set out to test in how far the existing literature can be utilized to answer this question. Empirically, the assessment concentrates on the textile and automotive industries in South Africa and HIV/AIDS abatement. Only limited state capacities have been involved in fighting HIV/AIDS in South Africa. Under which conditions do firms try to foster state capacities for the ...

With increasing fragmentation of worldwide production chains and the corresponding contracting relations between companies, the "firm as an inspector" has become a frequent phenomenon. Buyer firms deploy supervising activities over their suppliers' products and production processes in order to ensure their compliance with regulatory standards, thereby taking on tasks commonly performed by public authorities. Why would a firm engage in such activities? In this article we will analyze the conditions under which firms play the role of an inspector vis-à-vis their sub-contractor firms to guarantee compliance with quality and environmental regulations. We develop a theoretical argument based on transaction cost economics and institutionalism to offer hypothetical answers to this question and provide an empirical assessment of our hypotheses.