ABSTRACT
The growing social and economic power of transnational corporations has been marked by an underlying Polanyian tension, which assumes a more acute expression in Third World countries. According to the neoliberal development paradigm, the market-friendly policies are believed to attract and retain foreign direct investmen and financial flows, which, with the ‘correct’ policy mix, will lead to economic growth. Since the mid-1990s, global governance has become the dominant framework for making sense of initiatives such as the Compact in the field of international relations, but also within international policy circles. Any serious attempt to radicalize the Global Compact, and Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives more broadly, needs to question critically the separation of social and financial concerns which dominates the economic and business literature, as well as the nature of corporate power. Given the Compact’s scope and emphasis on forging new partnerships between both state and non-state actors, it has been heralded by many as global governance par excellence.
