Relaxing the Focus on the Postnational Constellation : Political CSR in Due Consideration of the State

In this paper, I map the territory in terms of the different emphases that CSR-related research puts on the state. Despite evidence that suggests that the state plays an important role as an actor in CSR, the majority of research on CSR focuses on contexts where the state plays at best the role of a stakeholder of corporations. I argue that the neglect of the state is particularly evident in normative research on CSR and I explore what a normative model of CSR that overcomes this neglect would have to look like. I suggest that one option is to develop a notion of political CSR that extends its research focus by providing a normative theory of lobbying, that critically reconsiders its restriction to voluntary arrangements, and that rethinks the appropriateness of the normative political model on which its theoretical framework rests.