Corporations, Justice & Rights
- NINT 5270 - Corporations, Justice & Rights (Spring 2008)
Corporations, Justice & Rights: Campaigns against Corporate Abuse in the Global South
Environmental degradation, abuses of labor, indigenous, and other human rights, and promotion of corruption are common vices attributed to global corporations operating in the developing world by their critics. Are such practices best combated and regulated through pressure tactics, certification and ethical consumerism, or other types of strategies? What roles do cross-border civil society activists, host and home country governments, and international organizations play in such regulatory efforts? How are we to assess efforts at promoting self-regulation of corporate behavior through voluntary codes of conduct and movements for “corporate social responsibility”?
This course will examine campaigns against corporate abuses in the global South in diverse issue settings and geographical contexts over recent decades. They will include banana plantations, garment sweatshops, and mining, and touch on regions such as Central America, East/Southeast Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. Among the international regulatory instruments and bodies we will consider are the United Nations Global Compact, International Labor Organization, Fair Labor Association, Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, Kimberley Process (for conflict diamonds), and WHO International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes.
The course will be run as a discussion-oriented seminar, and students will be asked to write a final research paper as well as critical reviews of readings.
Concentrations:Governance and Rights, Development