Corporate social responsibility – it seems impossible to be against it: who wants companies to be irresponsible towards society? But words are deceptive. The premise behind CSR – that the profit motive is tainted, global capitalism is leading the world to rack and ruin, and business has a duty to give something back to society – is fundamentally flawed. And so too is the practice of it.
Corporate power
Sorry, but we just don’t need the global compact
Globalisation is not perfect, but it is overwhelmingly a force for good. The rapid growth of trade and investment across national borders is spreading greater prosperity and opening up new opportunities to billions of people around the globe. China has recorded the fastest fall in poverty the world has ever seen. Global inequality is now declining for the first time since the Industrial Revolution, as China, India and others begin to catch up with the West. Those countries that are still floundering notably in Africa are largely victims not of globalisation, but of a lack of it.
Business doesn’t rule
Progressive politics ought to be about hope: that we can create a fairer society where everyone can make the most of their potential. Yet the prevailing mood on the left is despair. Globalisation, many believe, is leading the world to rack and ruin – and there is little we can do about it. American-led corporate power is elbowing aside government and trampling on democracy.