Political economy is a key approach to studying international development andsocial change. Research originating from a political economy approach will befamiliar to those of us who are aware of global concerns that emphasize bignumbers: how many millions of dollars of aid are distributed, how many peopleearn less than a dollar a day, child mortality rates, whether economies in developing countrie

The book looks at corporate voluntarism from a socio-legal perspective and places CSR in a regulatory context. The responsible practices of leading businesses have a role in the rule-making process by clarifying general, flexible concepts such as ‘due diligence’, ‘reasonability’, ‘foreseeability’ which all have a bearing on findings of corporate ‘negligence’. Procedural regulations seeking to enco

There are many kinds of public diplomacy (PD) currently practiced inEurope. Perhaps the most familiar of these is the national level advocacyand cultural promotion work conducted by foreign and cultural ministries.This chapter explores the PD policies of the “big three” in Europe:France, Germany, and the United Kingdom (UK). Although the UK iswell represented in recent scholarly debates, there are

Public diplomacy is the communication of an international actor’s policies to citizens of foreign countries. These citizens might include civil society representatives, nongovernmental organisations, multinationals, journalists and media institutions, specialists across different sectors of industry, politics and culture, and members of the general public. They are typically engaged by actors like

The new public diplomacy is a major paradigm shift in international political communication. Globalisation and a new media landscape challenge traditional foreign ministry ‘gatekeeper’ structures, and foreign ministries can no longer lay claim to being sole or dominant actors in communicating foreign policy. This demands new ways of communicating foreign policy to a range of nongovernmental intern

This article applies a neo-documentalist approach to explore disciplinary information and knowledge making practices. The aim is to show how conceptions and materialities of what counts as documentation and documents are intertwined with changing and persisting disciplinary and sub-disciplinary practices of producing information and knowledge, of knowing, and informing. A collective, multivocal au

The book looks at corporate voluntarism from a socio-legal perspective and places CSR in a regulatory context. The responsible practices of leading businesses have a role in the rule-making process by clarifying general, flexible concepts such as ‘due diligence’, ‘reasonability’, ‘foreseeability’ which all have a bearing on findings of corporate ‘negligence’. Procedural regulations seeking to enco

This unique collection gathers together important instruments dealing with the relationship between business and a range of topics such as labour rights, security issues, environmental protection, anti-corruption, good governance, poverty alleviation and development, which all have important human rights dimensions. The premise for the collection is that business has both the responsibility and th

Some of the emblematic cases of corporate-related infringements of human rights have appeared in unstable and violence-ridden zones, including armed conflict and other contexts with lower levels of conflict, internal disturbances, widespread violence and latent tensions. Businesses have been involved in different ways, as direct perpetrators, accomplices or mere trading partners. This article trac

The Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (‘GPs’) were unanimously endorsed in 2011 in the UN Human Rights Council and also recorded an unprecedented level of stakeholder support. Does this watershed signify a genuine convergence of expectations? Is the GPs’ conceptualization of the corporate ‘responsibility to respect’ (RtR) truly able to persuade and provide that focal point around whi

Prof. Ruggie’s work, with the ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy’ Framework (2008) and Guiding Principles (2011) as its peak, is multilayered and comprehensive. Instead of a dry, tedious description this introductory chapter will give the floor often to the SRSG: readers will find numerous quotations and references that will allow him or her to follow Ruggie’s reasoning. Ruggie should be commended for t