Transnational corporations and conflict prevention : The impact of norms on private actors

Abstract

Increasingly, scholarly attention has been devoted to economic dimensions of civil wars and especially the involvement of corporate actors in regions of conflict and their role in conflict prevention. When looking at the behavior of TNCs in the extractive industry in different zones of conflict, very different reactions can be recognized: Some leave, others stay, and some TNCs become actively engaged in conflict prevention. This paper argues that in some cases TNCs engage in conflict prevention because they have adopted a corporate social responsibility norm over time. TNCs go through different phases within a norm socialization process: First being guided by a logic of consequences, then becoming “selfentrapped” in justifying their (non-)role in a conflict, and, in a later phase, gradually accepting some responsibility in a conflict zone. This phase evenutally leads to initiatives and measures contributing to conflict prevention. This increase in conflict prevention measures undertaken by TNCs is influenced by three factors: Activist pressure, reputational concern and the legitimacy of a corporate social responsibility norm. These arguments are applied to one of the most prominent cases of TNC involvement in a conflict zone: Shell in Nigeria. It is demonstrated how Shell changed its policy over time by improving on building human capital (e.g. by supporting community development projects) and by improving on their human rights record (e.g. by minimizing human rights violations around their drilling holes and pipelines). The paper provides not only insights into the complementary nature of the logic of consequences and logic of appropriatenes, but also by looking at TNCs’ actions within and between the different phases, it specifies the process of norm socialization of TNCs.

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