The Commons, the Common Good and Extraterritoriality: Seeking Sustainable Global Justice through Corporate Responsibility

Shuangge Wen and Jingchen Zhao
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Shuangge Wen: Centre for Jurisprudence Research, School of Law, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, Jilin, China
Jingchen Zhao: Nottingham Law School, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, NG1 4FQ, UK

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 22, 1-21

Abstract: Despite their laudable intent, extraterritorial legal initiatives to promote corporate sustainability development have not been well received in practice, and are often seen as a window-dressing exercise. This article aims to conduct a conceptual and doctrinal analysis, offering a theoretical foundation that interprets corporate extraterritorial legislative attempts as legitimate in the context of globalisation, using the lens of “the commons” and “the common good”. We try to link the values and dimensions of “the commons” to the goals of corporate extraterritorial legislation, so that lawmaking attempts with extraterritorial reach will gain additional foundational support and achieve more effective and better controlled compliance. In particular, the article makes an original attempt to justify and develop a new notion, namely “the extraterritorial commons”. This notion is in harmony with, rather than contradicting, progressive legal attempts to address the mismatching and conflicting nature of the relationship between the traditional voluntarism of corporate extraterritorial responsibilities, particularly in relation to sustainability issues, and global trends towards more regulation in this area.

Keywords: the commons; the common good; multinational enterprises; extraterritoriality; corporate responsibility; extraterritorial commons (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:22:p:9475-:d:444985

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