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CSR and Political Communication

  • Maren BeaufortEmail author
  • Tobias Eberwein
  • Josef Seethaler
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Part of the CSR, Sustainability, Ethics & Governance book series (CSEG)

Abstract

This chapter argues that there is a close relationship between the development of CSR policies (from a shareholder to a stakeholder model) and the political environment, particularly the changing forms of the public sphere (from liberal to participatory approaches). At all stages of this development, communication as a constitutive element of the public sphere plays an important role in CSR, but the more people are engaged in an active public discourse, the more emphasis companies have to place on efforts to communicate their CSR strategies and activities. The trend towards stakeholder engagement in CSR reflects a general shift in political communication, which—over the past years—has revealed a growing interest in the potentials of citizen participation in the political process, particularly with the support of digital media. Up to now, however, central questions in this field of research remain unanswered.

Keywords

CSR Public Sphere Liberalism NGOs Participatory Democracy New Media 
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© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2017

Authors and Affiliations

  • Maren Beaufort
    • 1
    Email author
  • Tobias Eberwein
    • 1
  • Josef Seethaler
    • 1
  1. 1.Institute for Comparative Media and Communication StudiesAustrian Academy of Sciences, Alpen-Adria-UniversityWienAustria

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