Business, Politics and Public Policy / International Political Economy Series (PDF)

JOSE CARLOS MARQUES is a former Research Analyst in the Markets, Business and Regulation Program at the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), Switzerland. His publications include Corporate Social Responsibility and Regulatory Governance: Towards Inclusive Development? (co-edited with Peter Utting).
 
PETER UTTING is Deputy Director and Co-ordinator of the Markets, Business and Regulation Program of the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), Switzerland. His publications include the edited volumes Corporate Social Responsibility and Regulatory Governance: Towards Inclusive Development? (co-edited with José Carlos Marques), Corporate Accountability and Sustainable Development (co-edited with Jennifer Clapp) and The Greening of Business in Developing Countries: Rhetoric, Reality and Prospects.

'UNRISD has become an international leader in the analysis and empirics of the impact of corporate social responsibility on developing and transition countries. This volume examines the relationship between large firms and government in these countries, with a particular focus on the implications for social policy. Avoiding the simplicities of much debate on globalization and development, the contributions demonstrate how, under appropriate conditions, the inevitable political influence of large firms can be prevented from undermining inclusive development. Business, Politics and Public Policy shows that the United Nations still has a powerful and convincing voice.' E.V.K. FitzGerald, Head of Department, Oxford Department for International Development, University of Oxford, UK

'This is a farsighted and agenda-setting volume. Many studies of policy making overlook the privileged role of business, which, if anything, has expanded in developing countries in the wake of state retrenchment in recent decades. Moreover, early hopes that democratization would be sufficient to empower the poor to demand more effective social spending have not been borne out. This volume focuses precisely on the crucial missing link, namely business, and provides both rich, insightful case studies and an overarching and integrating theoretical framework for understanding business engagement in policy making. This is important reading for scholars of policy making and business as well as anyone concerned with promoting social welfare and equality.' Ben Ross Schneider, Professor of Political Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA