Home / Vol.13, n°3 / Rendre des comptes : Comment situer l’entreprise dans le discours démocratique?

Collected papers of the Corporate Social Responsability and the Environment Conference.

Pierre-Yves Néron, Post-doctoral Researcher, University of Toronto, presented a lecture titled: « Rendre des comptes : Comment situer l'entreprise dans le discours démocratique ? » in the panel entilted Strategic Lawsuits Against Public (S.L.A.P.Ps.).

Abstract
In this paper, drawing on recent debates on Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP) involving corporations, I propose some avenues to think about the various ways that corporations are involved in democratic debates. I provide an overview of the complex process in which corporations are forced to render account in the public sphere by various "moral entrepreneurs". I then turm to the identification of various modes of participation to public debates while using the distinction between commercial and political speech. This paper finishes with some thoughts on the lessons that can be learned from theses debates on the way that we should thinck about the idea of "corporate social responsibility".