Betting on the Wrong (Trojan) Horse: CSR and the Implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights

Ten years after the publication of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human
Rights (UNGPs), implementation efforts are in full swing. Companies in particular have used
their existing corporate social responsibility (CSR) structures to make sense of and implement
Pillar II of the UNGPs. This process has led to a co-optation of the business and human rights
(BHR) agenda. One manifestation of such co-optation is the instrumentalization of CSR to
confront and undermine the growing trend towards binding BHR legislation. Accordingly, this
contribution conceptualizes Pillar II implementation as a process of domestication, co-optation
and confrontation of the BHR agenda. It makes sense of this process by juxtaposing it with longstanding
critique against CSR put forth particularly by critical management scholars, raising the
question whether CSR is indeed well-equipped to drive BHR implementation efforts within
companies.