Corporations have emerged as key actors on the international plane challenging the prevalence of the sovereign State as the basic block of the international legal order. Not only does the economic power of corporate entities outstrip that of certain States, but also corporations are increasingly assuming functions comparable to those of States as a result of the trend of privatization. It is for this reason that calls for the direct regulation of corporations by virtue of international law have proliferated. The creation of international law obligations binding directly on corporations is thought to be a credible means of securing compliance of corporate conduct with fundamental rules of the international legal order. The question then becomes how corporate obligations fit within the predominantly State-centric framework of international law. An examination of corporate obligations under international law has to proceed on a number of levels. If international law is found to be applicable to corporations, then one needs to ascertain the conditions necessary for the emergence of corporate obligations. The next level is an ontological one, namely an examination of the sources of potential corporate obligations under positive international law resulting in the affirmation or negation of the creation of corporate obligations. The attitude of States towards corporate obligations as it transpires from the examination of the sources speaks to the normative concerns underlying the whole endeavor to envelop corporations in the international legal order. The final level of analysis is structural. Assuming that international law gives rise to obligations binding directly on corporations, one has to question the scope and structure of performance of these obligations as compared to the respective obligations of States.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:617599 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Karavias, Markos |
| Publisher | University of Oxford |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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