from Part II - Transnational Corporations, Corporate Law, and the Individual
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 October 2026
This chapter restates the legitimacy crisis facing the disciplines of international relations and international law stemming from their impotence in dealing with the environmental crisis as a “crisis” demanding immediate and effective intervention. It considers possibilities for resistance to transnational corporate irresponsibility and the hegemony of Capital’s law. It develops a praxis conception of law and politics, drawing upon Gramscian understandings of hegemony. Noting that hegemony is never complete but must always be reasserted and reinforced, it suggests there are always openings for resistance and transformation. The analysis looks for signs of resistance to corporate irresponsibility, noting both domestic and international laws’ general inability to hold corporations accountable for their environmental conduct. However, the analysis identifies a number of efforts taken by private actors and other organizations to regulate corporate environmental conduct. These efforts range from soft law corporate social responsibility initiatives to the embedding of sustainability clauses in investment contracts, treaties, and value chain contracts; the development of transparency, disclosure, and participation rules; climate change litigation; and the adoption by states of binding, due diligence legislation. While these efforts reveal kernels of transformative potential, it is possible that they merely constitute trasformismo and foreclose real and enforceable corporate regulation.
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