Delinking Legitimacies: A Pluriversal Perspective on Political CSR

Abstract

This study critically examines the concept of political CSR, or legitimacy creation through deliberation, as something that can be universally agreed upon in places where incommensurable differences exist. Through a comparative case study of two local stakeholder groups -one urban and one rural -involved in a conflict over a pulp mill in the south of Chile, this paper asks: 1) why did the two groups choose different participation strategies in the deliberation over the desirability of the mill? Based on multiple data sources, the study finds differences in how each community made sense of the world through place-bound social imaginaries, which affected the stakeholders' willingness to participate in deliberation. The findings suggest that legitimacy cannot be universally secured through dialogues that seek consensus at the expense of occluded imaginaries, rather it exists as a pluriversal construct. If political CSR is to play a role in legitimacy creation across imaginaries, the focus should be on constructing economic alternatives embedded in place that supports the co-existence of different forms of life.

Managing for Political Corporate Social Responsibility: New Challenges and Directions for PCSR 2.0

“…Maria Ehrnström‐Fuentes's () paper takes the interactions between PCSR and the relevant institutional context seriously. She notes that assumptions about democracy and modern capitalism, which so much of the PCSR literature begins with, do not extend to large parts of the planet.…”

“…The articles in this special issue represent the state of the art in PCSR research. They each begin with some of the core assumptions found in the PCSR approach, and then apply these to a range of unique settings: pulp and paper mills in Chile (Ehrnström‐Fuentes, ); international agreements about coffee standards (Levy et al, ); the regulation of trade in conflict minerals in the Congo (Reinecke and Ansari, ); the social media strategy of a global health company (Castello et al, ); fracking in Québec (Gond et al, ); and the role of leaders in pushing forward PCSR strategies (Maak et al, ). But more than just mechanically applying these ideas, the papers extend the conceptual repertoire of PCSR.…”

Conceptualizing data‐deliberation: The starry sky beetle, environmental system risk, and Habermasian CSR in the digital age

“…Whereas initial framings of PCSR focus on the political ideals of Habermasian theories (see, e.g., Scherer & Palazzo, , ), more recent accounts consider PCSR in a broader vein (see, e.g., Mäkinen & Kourula, ; Whelan, ). In this regard, the limited universal applicability of a single political ideal has been highlighted against diverse world settings and pluralistic systems of norms and values (Ehrnström‐Fuentes, ; Willke & Willke, ). As a result, authors have opened the PCSR spectrum for alternative political underpinnings, by introducing Rawlsian PCSR foundations (Mäkinen & Kourula, ), and refining political ideals that previous literature delineates (Whelan, ).…”

“…We used Habermasian political ideals to outline the data‐deliberation concept. As Ehrnström‐Fuentes () notes, drawing on a single political philosophy poses the risk of being understood as a unilateral approach. Future research may, therefore, go beyond this conception, looking into different political philosophies, for instance, an approach that may be informed by another political ideal and diverse country contexts.…”

Corporate diplomacy and political CSR: Similarities, differences and theoretical implications

“…In this regard, scholars emphasize the need for corporate actors to participate in public discourse and to engage in deliberative processes (e.g. Ehrnström-Fuentes, 2016;Hussain & Moriarty, 2016;Hofmann, Schleper, & Blome, 2015;Maak, Pless, & Voegtlin, 2016;Scherer & Palazzo, 2007;Seele & Lock, 2015;Schrempf-Stirling, Palazzo, Phillips, 2016). Therefore, PCSR is often generally conceptualized as the role of "corporations as political actors" (Wettstein & Baur, 2015, p. 204) that aim to contribute to socio-political issues in order to gain legitimacy (e.g.…”