Political CSR initiatives as levers of marginalisation: the disconnect between representatives and the so-called represented in the mining industry
Critical Perspectives on International Business
ISSN: 1742-2043
Article publication date: 16 November 2019
Issue publication date: 28 January 2022
Abstract
Purpose
The transformative potential of CSR is a far-reaching question. It has been analysed through the lens of the inclusion of stakeholders concerned by social and environmental issues in political CSR fora such as multi-stakeholder initiatives or, on the contrary, their exclusion from these processes. This paper aims to highlight the transformation or status quo produced by political corporate social responsibility (PCSR) initiatives, the extent of transformation being a function of the degree of inclusiveness, or conversely of exclusion, of these initiatives. From a promise of inclusion to the inability of corporate-society fora to act on the actual levers of marginalisation, PCSR scholars have developed contrasted views on these initiatives.
Design/methodology/approach
This led us to elaborate a hypothesis that such initiatives intrinsically act as levers in the recurring marginalisation of directly affected stakeholders. Drawing on an empirical study of the CSR discourses of mining industry stakeholders – both corporations and civil society – involved in an informal multi-stakeholder initiative, this paper discusses the disconnect between its representatives and the needs of the directly affected stakeholders.
Findings
To explore this disconnect, the authors draw on the voices and causes framework developed by Boltanski et al. (1984), which provided us with a relational system involving victims, guilty parties, complainants and judges.
Originality/value
Accordingly, the authors highlight a set of three interrelated marginalisation mechanisms (i.e. the capture of the role of the judge by PCSR initiatives, the side-lining of victims’ needs by complainants, the intertwining of the guilty party and the judge), which empirically support the lack-of-inclusiveness hypothesis.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This paper forms part of a special section “Extractivism and the Links between International Business and People’s Struggles”, guest edited by Rafael Kruter Flores, Steffen Böhm and Maria Ceci Misoczky.
The authors are grateful to those who have offered useful comments and feedback on earlier drafts of this article, in particular the editors of this special issue, the two anonymous reviewers as well as Bobby Banerjee and Christopher Wright. This research received financial support from the French National Research Agency through the programme “Investments for the Future” under reference number ANR-10-LabX-11-01.
Citation
Roussey, C., Balas, N. and Palpacuer, F. (2022), "Political CSR initiatives as levers of marginalisation: the disconnect between representatives and the so-called represented in the mining industry", Critical Perspectives on International Business, Vol. 18 No. 1, pp. 31-49. https://doi.org/10.1108/cpoib-01-2018-0015
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited