ABSTRACT
There have been arguments to the effect that the predominantly business-driven CSR agenda is antithetical to the politically driven welfare state tradition. The Nordic deployment of CSR, however, shows otherwise. This chapter demonstrates that, while solid domestic welfare state arrangements are certainly not substituted by CSR, Nordic companies and Nordic state governments have appropriated CSR pragmatically in areas where traditional welfare state policies lack resources or outreach. One of these areas is the international economy, where CSR becomes part of what can be called a tacit strategy for “civilizing global capitalism”. This chapter shows how CSR may be part of a “soft law” approach, where the Nordics and like-minded countries push an institutional agenda for social and environmental upgrading of the international economy. The soft CSR approach could be seen as a stepping stone towards hard law. However, the chapter also shows how the Nordic political embrace of CSR may in itself be an emerging modality of international governance – a “partnered governance” where sustainability-oriented states and businesses, seconded by civil society organizations, work together, challenging each other in a normative space in brand-sensitive markets in a communicative society.
