Corporate Social Responsibility in times of Populism and Human Insecurity

Dr. Christie was awarded an Internal Grant for Research for a research paper that explores transnational corporations’ response the populist movements through social responsibility platforms.

This paper explores the rise of populist movements in the West and their impact on the behaviour of transnational corporations. We argue such movements are contributing to business uncertainty thereby forcing industry to entrench politically sensitive policy into their social responsibility platforms. By exploiting human insecurities, populist movements have targeted some of the most marginalized groups in society including refugees and migrants. This brand of governance has motivated the business sector to publicly reject populist doctrine while advocating a continued commitment to globalization and free markets.