Corporate citizenship and the role of Länder politics in Germany

Jonna Barth

2007

Politicians from all parties are increasingly demanding that corporations demonstrate more social responsibility. How does such corporate citizenship look like in reality? Who in politics is in charge of corporate citizenship and what are the goals? What do German companies expect?

Jonna Barth takes an explorative and qualitative approach to examining how regional politicians in four German Länder interpret corporate citizenship. She examines how politicians define their roles, what they expect companies to do and to what extent they want to set rules to shape developments. Her analysis brings transparency to political practices. Thus, she provides the Länder governments with benchmarks for their actions and shows companies what they must reckon with.