ABSTRACT
There are a number of reasons for the exclusion of the corporation from political philosophy. A key reason is the historical division of labour between economics and ethics. Despite the support found for a belief in the social liberal corporation, it makes sense to raise serious doubt about the underlying logic and causal processes driving the responsibility agenda. The prospect of an overturn of the liberal world order, which is coming under threat from nationalism and non-democratic capitalism, is decisive for the notion of corporations as responsible agencies. The discussion about the social liberal corporation should be seen as a contribution to reconfigure the division of labour between the state and the corporation. Political corporate social responsibility (CSR) needs to qualify further how it is possible for a business corporation to provide public goods. As long as these issues are left unacknowledged and unresolved by proponents of political CSR, they continue to be critical to the social liberal conception.
