Civil society Historical injustice Corporate historical injustice and its redress Historical injustice Civil Society Civil society is a sphere of democratic societies distinct from the state and the market economy ID: 318393
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Points covered:Civil societyHistorical injustice Corporate historical injustice and its redress
Historical injusticeSlide2
Civil Society“Civil society” is a sphere of democratic societies distinct from the state and the market economy.Organizations which comprise civil society include:NGOs, universities, churches, social movements, consumers’ groups, environmental groups, trades unions.Slide3
What “happens” in civil society?The organisations of civil society inform the public about an issue and try to mobilize public opinion and influence the political agenda – locally, nationally and internationally. It is a sphere of political engagement beyond party politics.Slide4
Corporations and civil societyCorporations are usually seen not to be a part of civil society as defined above, though they (as well as governments) are often the focus of criticism and opposition by civil society groups.Slide5
Historical injustice?Historical injustice is a wrong committed by an agent which, when committed, was legal but which is subsequently acknowledged by the perpetrator to be unjust.Slide6
CompensationPrinciple of compensation:A victim, V, to whom injustice has been done.
A perpetrator,
P
, of the injustice
Compensation, C, which redresses the injustice.
To compensate for the wrong done to V, P pays C to V.Slide7
Compensation & historical injusticeThe perpetrators of the injustice are very often dead.The direct victims are also often dead.
Who is to be compensated, how and by whom?Slide8
Loyalty and identity In professing its guilt and offering compensation, a contemporary government or people recognises its identity across time and assumes collective responsibility for the injustice of its predecessors, even if those who perpetrated the injustice are dead.‘[I]t would at first appear that there is no institution … other than the state that can take on collective responsibility’ (
Spiliotis
2007, p. 55).Slide9
Corporations and historical injusticeCorporations, too, perpetrate injustice.Is it feasible that present owners of a corporation identify with the corporation’s past and collectively assume responsibility for past injustices committed by the corporation?Slide10
Corporate injustice in Nazi GermanyDuring World War II, corporations, e.g. Volkswagen, IG Farben, made use of forced (slave) labour performed by inmates of
labour
or concentration camps.Slide11
Corporate injustice in Nazi GermanyNot all corporations which committed injustice in Hitler’s Germany were German. Examples:IBMFordOpel (GM)
Standard OilSlide12
German Business Foundation InitiativeWhy did German companies help set up this initiative in 1999?Was it:Due to a sense of guilt?
A public relations exercise?
To bring an end to future lawsuits from Holocaust survivors?Slide13
German Business Foundation InitiativeWhat was the historical identity that these firms were representing - German business in general?‘Underlying this line of thinking was the path-breaking concept of private business as a continuous, long-standing and inter-generational association with moral duties’ (
Spiliotis
2007, p. 59).Slide14
German Business Foundation Initiative‘[T]he overwhelming majority of German business … did not take part in the initiative’ (ibid., p. 60). Some companies which did not exist before World War II did contribute to the fund. Many corporations (e.g. Swiss, Swedish, American) have embarked on no such initiative.Slide15
Corporations and civil societyDoes the Initiative mark a “venturing out” into “civil society” by corporations and what does this mean?