ABSTRACT
Transnational corporations operate in conflict zones around the world. Most prominent are cases where they have become entangled in conflict dynamics or have supported authoritarian regimes. Often cited examples have been companies that buy ‘conflict diamonds’ from African countries or, more recently, that export ‘conflict minerals’ from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). In contrast, corporate social responsibility (CSR), a concept that has received increased attention since the 1990s (Coni-Zimmer 2014), emphasizes that companies can and should go beyond simply doing business by engaging in CSR and governance. 2 This discourse has spurred research on the potentially positive role of business and its contributions to governance in zones of conflict (Wenger and Möckli 2003; Haufler 2010; Deitelhoff and Wolf 2010b).
