The UN Global Compact and the Enlightenment tradition: a rural electrification project under the aegis of the UN Global Compact

Despite extensive academic debate as to what corporate social responsibility (CSR) and other related concepts ought to encompass, there is a lack of critical analysis of what CSR in practice entails, i.e., what actually constitutes CSR practices. This paper critically addresses this question by focusing on one of the most influential CSR initiatives – the UN Global Compact. We demonstrate that the principles of the Global Compact are rooted in a European Enlightenment tradition and, based on a study of an Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) CSR project in a Tanzanian village, we illustrate how these principles translate into corporate projects that challenge local institutions, while remaining unquestioned. The paper concludes by opening a space for discussing the desirability of the Enlightenment ethos manifested in Global Compact projects. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.