ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book demonstrates that corporate social responsibility (CSR) may appear to be a notion mainly relevant to the sphere of business. It investigates of CSR as a vehicle for change and/or continuity has constituted a contribution to ongoing theoretical debates regarding welfare state retrenchment, convergence and divergence, and the drivers of institutional change and continuity. In relation to the philanthropic strand of CSR emerges that this expression of CSR is widely considered incompatible with the social democratic and conservative welfare states of Scandinavia, Germany and France. Within government realms, CSR has been moved once again one step further away from the Ministry of Social Affairs, where CSR was initiated in the 1990s, and also away from the Ministry of Employment, from where CSR was led since the change of government and during the time of the interviews.
