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Multinational Corporations: a Case of Impunity

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Multinational Corporations: a Case of Impunity Multinational Corporations: A Case of Impunity An argumentation analysis on the parliamentary debate of the Swiss Business Initiative Mirjam Hagmann Human Rights Bachelor Thesis 15hp Spring 2020 Supervisor: Anders Melin Abstract Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the media are constantly drawing attention to human rights violatio ns caused by multinational corporations abroad (MNCs). Due to the lack of an adequate framework to hold corporations accountable for their corporate misconduct across borders, there is a liability gap. Extensive research has been undertaken by politic a l philosophers as well as lawyers attempting to fill the gap, leaving the question why it still exists. Currently, there is a debate in the Swiss parliament about the implementation of a constitutional law which could fill this gap. By conducting an argumentation analysis on the parliamentary debate about the Swiss Business Initiative (SBI), this thesis seeks to analyze how politicians are framing the debate, as well as what normative concerns of the academy have been discussed or left out. Finally, the paper concludes with seven findings that could be focused on more in praxis. Keywords: Responsible Swiss Business Initiative, Human Rights, Global Justice, CSR, Multinational Corporations Word Count: 13’703 List of Abbreviations BoP Base of the pyramid CSR Corporate Social Responsibility GDP Gross Domestic Product GJM Global Justice Movement HRC Human Rights Council (UN) ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights MNC Multinational Corporation NGO Non-Governmental Organiza tio n SBI Responsible Swiss Business Initiative (German: Konzernverantwortungs- initiative) SGSR United Nations Secretary-General's Special Representative UDHR Universal Declaration of Human Rights UN United Nations UNGC United Nations Global Compact UNGP United Nations Guiding Principles Table of Contents Abstract...................................................................................................................................... 2 List of Abbreviations ................................................................................................................. 3 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 5 1.1 Introduction to the topic .............................................................................................. 5 1.2 Aim and Research Questions ........................................................................................ 6 1.3 Relevance to Human Rights .......................................................................................... 7 1.4 Theory and Method ..................................................................................................... 8 1.5 Delimitations ............................................................................................................... 8 1.6 Terminology ................................................................................................................ 8 2. THEORY .............................................................................................................................. 8 2.1 Literature Review......................................................................................................... 8 2.2 Theoretical Framework .............................................................................................. 12 2.2.1 Neoliberalism ......................................................................................................... 12 2.2.2 Global Justice ......................................................................................................... 14 2.2.3 Agents of global justice ........................................................................................... 16 2.2.4 Hard Law................................................................................................................ 17 2.2.5 Soft Law ................................................................................................................. 19 2.2.6 Voluntary mechanisms............................................................................................ 20 3. BACKGROUND ................................................................................................................. 22 3.1 The UN Guiding Principles .......................................................................................... 22 3.2 Choosing Switzerland and the SBI ............................................................................... 22 4. METHOD .......................................................................................................................... 23 4.1 Argumentation analysis.............................................................................................. 23 4.2 Material..................................................................................................................... 24 4.2.1 The Federal Popular Initiative in Switzerland ............................................................ 24 4.2.2 The parliamentary debate of the SBI ........................................................................ 24 4.2.3 Text of the Initiative................................................................................................ 25 4.3 Delimitations ............................................................................................................. 25 5. ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION............................................................................................ 25 5.1 Argumentation analysis.............................................................................................. 25 5.1.1 Christa Markwalder ................................................................................................ 26 5.1.2 Cédric Wermuth ..................................................................................................... 27 5.1.3 Regula Rytz ............................................................................................................ 29 5.1.4 Zanetti, Claudio ...................................................................................................... 31 5.1.5 Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 32 5.2 Application of the theoretical framework to the parliamentary debate ....................... 32 5.2.1 Switzerland as an economic business location .......................................................... 33 5.2.2 Is Corporate Social Responsibility enough?............................................................... 34 5.2.3 International vs. State Law ...................................................................................... 35 5.2.4 State Sovereignty and Extraterritoriality .................................................................. 36 6. CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................... 38 6.1 Findings ..................................................................................................................... 38 6.2 Further Research........................................................................................................ 39 7. REFERENCE LIST ............................................................................................................... 40 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction to the topic MNCs are becoming increasingly powerful in the domains of politics and economics, holding a large percentage of the world’s capital. Additionally, MNCs began to emulate into “global webs” making their legal structures more complex than ever—commonly referred to as the corporate veil. It took a long time for the social sciences, especially that of internatio na l relations to account for MNCs and not only states when it comes to questions about global power, distribution, “justice, freedom and economic security” (Strange, 1991: 245-246). After the Second World War, a strong political will to control the market lingered in society, which was advocated by Keynes, who believed that it was the liberal project and its consequences that led to such a detrimental economic situation and therefore suggested a mixed market control by using taxes and monetary policies to counterbalance economic recessions and depressions (Guger & Walterskirchen, 1988: 103-105). It was a short run for Keynesian economics, as the society did not want to return to its interwar social order, but found comfort in the re-emerging liberal thought which was strongly driven by Reagan and Thatcher. Neoliberalism was born and made to tackle the ascending globalization by releasing state regulation and revisiting the free market. A distinction of neoliberalism to that of classical neoliberalis m is the displacement of the nation state. Neoliberalism marks the beginning of states actively participating, facilitating and ensuring a self-regulating market (Wettstein, 2009: 175). Free market economy and deregulation offered ingress for MNCs to access all parts of the world, which drove competition for low production costs. Consequently, MNCs which established their headquarters in the Global North started operating in the Global South. Activis ts, NGOs and social movements began to draw negative media attention to corporate misconduc t in the Global South, calling for corporations to be held accountable for human rights violations committed abroad. Lacking a comprehensive framework
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