O Brasil se destaca, dentre o conjunto de países, como aquele que engendrou e consolidou o uso de recursos energéticos alternativos aos combustíveis fósseis, como por exemplo, os biocombustíveis. A condição de player mundial de etanol, biocombustível produzido a partir da cana-de-açúcar, foi alcançada pelo país em decorrência dos significativos aportes financeiros concedidos pelo Estado ao setor sucroalcooleiro desde o final do século XIX e, sobretudo, durante a década de 1970, por meio do Programa Nacional do Álcool (PNA) cujo objetivo era diminuir a dependência do país em relação ao petróleo importado. Num período que se caracteriza, dentre outras questões, por uma corrida global por alimentos e novas fontes de energia limpa para suprir a crescente demanda mundial, o Brasil desponta no cenário internacional como o país que possui uma situação sui generis, uma vez que com o seu vasto território, poderia, supostamente, conciliar a produção de alimentos e de matérias-primas para a geração dos biocombustíveis (etanol e biodiesel). Investigou-se, portanto, a ocorrência simultânea dos seguintes fenômenos: a intensificação de compra de terras brasileiras por estrangeiros (para a produção de commodities agrícolas, matérias-primas para biocombustíveis e para servir de reserva de valor) e o questionamento dos agentes políticos e econômicos supraestatais quanto à sustentabilidade dos biocombustíveis, por compreenderem que o cultivo de matérias-primas voltadas para o processo produtivo do etanol e do biodiesel, pode comprometer a oferta de gêneros agrícolas de primeira necessidade, o que provocaria o aumento dos preços e elevaria o número de famintos no mundo. Assim, o objetivo dessa pesquisa, portanto, foi compreender as ações políticas do Estado brasileiro no processo de regulação do território para a produção dos recursos energéticos alternativos. Essas ações estiveram e estão condicionadas as forças externas (as corporações transnacionais, outros Estados territoriais e Instituições supraestatais) e as forças internas (os diferentes interesses dos segmentos sociais que compõe a nação). Ainda, elas têm imprimido no território brasileiro, diferentes dinâmicas sócio-espaciais cujos resultados têm sido a expansão dos canaviais sobre a região do Cerrado e o deslocamento da pecuária para o bioma da Amazônia. Convém destacar que buscamos compreender as ações do Estado brasileiro inseridas em contextos histórico-geográficos aos quais denominamos de ordens geopolíticas. Em cada uma dessas ordens geopolíticas, o Estado brasileiro esteve articulado à economia-mundo. Assim, embora as ações do Estado brasileiro tenham sido controversas e ambíguas no que diz respeito aos recursos energéticos alternativos, não se pode desconsiderar que as mesmas não tenham tido papel de relevo na consolidação de uma matriz energética mais limpa. Tal fato coloca o Brasil como um dos protagonistas nos fóruns internacionais sobre desenvolvimento sustentável. Não obstante, o setor sucroalcooleiro brasileiro tem se tornado mais concentrado, oligopolizado e desnacionalizado. E a concentração de terras pelas Corporações Transnacionais que atuam no segmento dos biocombustíveis tem sido um dos fatores que concorrem para que o Brasil ainda tenha uma segurança alimentar vulnerável. / Brazil stands out among the group of countries, such as one that engendered and consolidated the use of alternative energy sources to fossil fuels, such as biofuels. The condition of world player of ethanol, biofuel made from sugar cane, was achieved by the country as a result of significant financial contributions granted by State to the sugarcane sector since the late nineteenth century and especially during the 1970s through the National Alcohol Program (PNA) whose goal was to reduce the country\'s dependence on imported oil. In a period that is characterized, among other things, by a global race for food and new sources of clean energy to meet the growing global demand, Brazil is emerging on the international scene as the country that has a unique situation, since the its vast territory, could supposedly reconciling the production of food and raw materials for the generation of biofuels (ethanol and biodiesel). We investigated, therefore, the simultaneous occurrence of the following phenomena: the intensification of land purchases by foreigners in Brazil (for the production of agricultural commodities, raw materials for biofuels and to serve as a store of value) and questioning of political and economic agents supra regarding the sustainability of biofuels, by understanding that the cultivation of raw materials aimed at the production process of ethanol and biodiesel, can compromise the supply of farm products of first necessity, which would lead to higher prices and would increase the number of hungry people in the world. The objective of this study was therefore to understand the political actions of the Brazilian state in the regulation of the territory for the production of alternative energy resources. These actions were and are conditioned external forces (transnational corporations, territorial states and other institutions supra) and internal forces (the different interests of social groups that make up the nation). Still, they are printed in the Brazilian territory, different socio-spatial dynamics whose results have been the expansion of sugarcane plantations on the Cerrado region and the displacement of cattle ranching to the Amazon biome. It should be noted that we try to understand the actions of the Brazilian state entered into historical and geographical contexts to which we call geopolitical orders. In each of these geopolitical orders, the Brazilian state was articulated to the world economy. Thus, although the actions of the Brazilian state have been controversial and ambiguous with respect to alternative energy resources, one can not ignore that they have not had major role in the consolidation of a cleaner energy matrix. This fact places Brazil as a major actor in international forums on sustainable development. Nevertheless, the Brazilian sugarcane sector has become more concentrated, oligopolistic and stateless. And the concentration of land by transnational corporations that operate in biofuels has been one of the factors that contribute to that Brazil still has a vulnerable food security.

The demand for natural resources and energy continues to growin the developed world and, with it, the negative impacts on the environment and the rights of the peoples directly affected by extractive activities undertaken by the largest transnational corporations. Three factors compel victims of serious environmental damage to resort simultaneously to any available avenue of legal action (whether judicial or non-judicial, national or international): (1) the link between environmental damage and human rights abuses; (2) weak legislation, combined with the inability or unwillingness of the law-enforcing institutions in many countries where such extractive activities take place; and (3) the absence of international avenues to claim direct liability from corporations. We call this phenomenon intertwined actions, as the various judicial actions undertaken by the victims end up mutually reinforcing and increasing the visibility of the problem. The aim of this paper is to show this reality on the basis of the various instances of litigation that are taking place in the specific context of Shell’s activities in the Niger delta. / La presión de la demanda de recursos naturales y de energía en el mundo desarrollado sigue creciendo y, con ello, los impactos negativos sobre el medio ambiente y los derechos de las personas vinculados en especial a las actividades extractivas llevadas a cabo por las mayores empresas transnacionales. La suma de tres factores —la vinculación entre daños al medio ambiente y vulneración de derechos humanos, la debilidad de la legislación y la incapacidad o la falta de voluntad de la institucionalidad que debe aplicarla en muchos de los países donde se desarrollan dichas actividades y la inexistencia de vías internacionales para reclamar la responsabilidad directamente a las empresas— ha llevado a las víctimas de graves daños ambientales a utilizar a la vez todo tipo de vías disponibles (judiciales y nojudiciales, nacionales e internacionales), en lo que cabe denominar acciones entrelazadas, puesto que todas ellas acaban por reforzarse mutuamente y aumentan la visibilidad del problema. El objetivo de este trabajo es mostrar esta realidad a partir del caso concreto del impacto de las actividades de la empresa petrolera Shell, una de las empresas que opera en el delta del Níger.Este artículo se basa en uno de los estudios de caso realizados en el marco de un proyecto más amplio de investigación vinculado al Proyecto Environmental Justice Organizations, Liabilities and Trade (EJOLT), VII Programa Marco de la Unión Europea, Número FP7-SCIENCE-IN-SOCIETY-2010–1, y al proyecto de investigación, financiado por el Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación de España, «La garantía jurídica de la vertiente intrageneracional de la justicia ambiental como aspecto social del desarrollo sostenible» (DER2010-19529).

"This study centres on the presumption that, given the unprecedented economic power of corporations, it is vital to clarify the legal issues surrounding the responsibility of corporations for human rights violations and to look at avenues for asserting responsibility. Consequently, this study focuses on the responsibility concept for corporate human rights violations and the objective of this study is to explore, examine and assess various avenues for asserting responsibility for corporate human rights violations. The study recommends other avenues for asserting responsibility for corporate human rights violations in Africa. The study therefore raises four issues. The first phase seeks to focus on how globalisation has triggered the proliferation of corporations in national economies in Africa and the impact on human rights issues taking into cognisance the responsibility concept vis a vis corporations. The second part seeks to examine state responsibility for the acts of corporations. This discussion will focus on the International Rules on State Responsibility and obligations of states under international human rights law with reference to certain human rights instruments that confer a duty on states to respect and to ensure to all citizens within their territories and subject to their jurisdiction the rights recongnised in these instruments. This discussion basically seeks to review the dominant approach to human rights treaties and the relevant instruments to assess the available avenues in asserting responsibility on the state for corporate human rights violations. This study will assess home and host state responsibility and argue that the host state cannot certainly be regarded as the main bearer of responisiblity for violations of human rights due to the powerful characteristics of corporatoins. The jurisprudence of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights will also be taken into consideration in examining the legal responsibility of states under international human rights law for corporate human rights violations. Part three of this study will addres the question of asserting direct responsibility on transnational corporations for human rights violations. While some remarks will be made on non-legal responsibilities or soft law, my interest will however be to examine and assess the suitability of human right principles and instruments that confer direct responsibility on corporations for human rights violations. The discussion will also take cognisance of some treaties that confer direct criminal responsibility on corporations for human rights violations. The fourth and concluding part will attempt to look at the need for internaitonal legally binding regulations of corporations. This discussion will attempt to focus on the application and implications of international legally binding regulation in Africa as a means of reforming and strengthening direct corporate criminal responsibility for human rights violations. Recommendations geared towards the legal reform of asserting direct responsiblity on transnational corporations in Africa will then be made." -- Introduction. / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2004. / Prepared under the supervision of Prof. Kingsley K. K. Ampofo, Faculty of Law, University of Ghana / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/llm1.html / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

"The exclusive focus on the state-centric paradigm of IHRL fails to address the increasing number of an array of private (non-state) actors who may come into play in terms of violations of human rights. Therefore while this study proceeds from the premise that the state is the primary focus of IHRL, it will be argued that the state cannot certainly be deemed the sole bearer of responsibility for human rights violations in view of the increase in the number of potential violators. Consequently, the study aims to address three issues. Firstly, it seeks to investigate the increase in the number of violators of human rights to include non-state actors (particularly transnational (multinational) corporations TNCs) and the effect of this increase on the violations of ESCRs. While the discussion will focus on the accountability of private actors vis-à-vis the protection of ESCRs, the area of civil and political rights is considered no less important. The discussion takes cognisance of the indivisibility and inter-dependence of all human rights in the sense that no precise contours separating all human rights can be said to exist. Secondly, the study seeks to review the dominant approach to human rights including human rights treaties and other relevant instruments to assess their potential in asserting the human rights obligations (including, ESCRs obligations)) of non-state actors. Thirdly and with specific reference to the TNC as a non-state actor in the African context, the study seeks to investigate the challenges to the problem of implementing the accountability of TNCs through the IHRL framework and suggest ways of addressing these challenges. Central focus will be placed on the accountability of TNCs for human rights violations, particularly ESCRs. The choice of TNCs in this study is justified on account of the immense economic power wielded by these entities vis a vis the changing notion of state sovereignty as will be emphasized in chapter 2. At a more specific level, the case study on the problem of accountability of TNCs is narrowed down to an African context particularly for two reasons. Firstly, the problem of control of TNCs is highlighted more in the case of the weaker state in the African context. Secondly, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights’ recent decision in the SERAC case that forms the basis of the case study in chapter 4 brings into light within a human rights treaty monitoring framework, the challenges of TNC- accountability within the context of Africa." -- Chapter 1. / Prepared under the supervision of Professor Tobias van Reenen at the Faculty of Law, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2002. / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/dissertations.html / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

in English The need for an effective regulation of transnational corporations and its responsibility for human rights abuses has been a topic resonating strongly in the international debate for the past three decades. The suggested solutions to the lack of accountability of transnational business, however, still vary. Among them are suggestions that obligations of states under existing international human rights law could be extended to corporations, a new binding international treaty on business and human rights could be adopted, or that transnational corporations should be held to account under national law. This paper was initially inspired by this debate and seeks to identify the gaps and loopholes in legal regulation to provide better understanding of which ways forward are feasible and under what circumstances. Given these specific objectives, this paper firstly identifies the obstacles to holding transnational corporations responsible for human rights abuses under public international law. It focuses on a conceptual analysis of legal personality in public international law and the limits to legal personality of non-state actors, specifically corporations in international human rights law. This paper then turns to international criminal law and examines whether international criminal law is...

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No / A significant potential beneficial impact of foreign direct investment arises from a foreign affiliate's propensity to purchase inputs from suppliers in the host economy. This issue is of particular interest where the host is a developing country and the linkage is likely to contribute to the development of local suppliers. We compare variations in local input linkages across four countries: Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Viet Nam, all member countries of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN). Using multiple linear regressions, our findings indicate that the degree of local input linkages is highest when foreign affiliates perform a strategic role in the transnational corporation network and are embedded in the host economy. Non-firm factors are also important determinants, especially the industry of investing firms and the existence of a supply base. Building on the findings, a series of policies to enhance supplier-foreign affiliate linkages are proposed.

Through globalization non-state actors including transnational corporations (TNC), have taken on a more important global governance role from the nation state, where they through their CSR initiatives, impact social issues surrounding development. There are however conflicting views whether CSR could contribute to development in the society. TNCs CSR engagement mainly concerns social issues at the workplace such as complying with labour rights. But workers right to organize and bargain collectively (FoA), which is a universally adopted labour right, is not emphasized on despite being vital for a democratic and sound labour market that ensures decent working and living conditions and even facilitates poverty reduction and development. Respecting FoA is particularly important in the context of a low-skilled and labor-intensive workforce with a low rule law and bad working conditions, which is often the case in developing countries where many of the apparel and telecom sector produces. Based on the importance of FoA and the critical views whether TNCs CSR initiatives really can improve FoA and thus development, this thesis will explore whether and how three TNCs, that produces in the above described context, address FoA by analyzing their strict policy and practical measures taken. Through using and applying theory and empirics of CSR and FoA, this thesis is conducted as a comparative case study of H&M, IKEA and Ericsson through a qualitative text analysis. The result shows that two out of three TNCs do not emphasize on addressing FoA since they disregard it as well as do not enforce practical measures directed toward FoA, but takes a more overall human rights approach. Whereas H&M highly address FoA by enforcing many projects that physically involves thousands of workers and enables them to organize and bargain collectively, which facilitates improved working and living conditions. The conclusion is that when TNCs, through their CSR initiatives, takes on a global governance role, they should address FoA by enforcing practical measures that physically involves and enable workers to organize and bargain collectively, since this can facilitate poverty reduction and development.

Is there any link between hierarchy of transnational corporations, banks and research and development institutions? Abstract The world city theory focuses on concentration of the most progressive activities of the social-economic system in a few key cities that together have a major share of command and control power within the global economy. Location advantages of such cities attract TNC headquarters, financial services and R&D facilities. Interactions between them lead to further strengthening of the position of the global city and it brings a cumulative effect on the location advantages. This paper examines the global city hierarchy based on the data on 1 500 world's biggest companies headquarters location, as well as location of 1 500 most important R&D institutions and 200 biggest banks. According to the results the triad of New York, London and Tokyo was taken over by Beijing. Correlation analysis of the city rankings in all of the three hierarchies confirms significant geographical link between global arrangement of TNC headquarters, financial services and R&D institutions. Keywords: global city, TNCs, banks, RIS, research and development, geographical organization

PhD dissertation. / Includes bibliographical references.