Visible Hands: Government Policies On Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Denmark and the UK

CSR has traditionally focused on voluntary initiatives undertaken by companies and not on government regulation. This dichotomy is no longer meaningful because governments increasingly regulate the social responsibility of companies. How can we explain the content of government CSR programs? What motivates a government to regulate CSR programs by companies? This paper takes its starting point in CSR regulation in Denmark and the UK and examines the content of national CSR regulation focusing on labor and human rights programs. The political science literature has so far largely ignored CSR and has left the study of CSR initiatives to the management literature, which focuses on companies. Furthermore, the global governance literature views the nation state as weak and examines how transnational governance can be used to remedy a domestic governance gap. This lack of interest in government CSR programs by the political science literature is surprising because a key focus area for political science is to examine how market forces are embedded in domestic institutions such as legislation. Government CSR programs can be seen as an example of “embedded liberalism” that it is highly relevant for political scientists to examine: 1) How do national models of capitalism shape government interest in CSR regulation? 2) How can governments collaborate with companies and civil society actors to adopt CSR regulation that governs company conduct across national borders?