I highly recommend that readers check out an article entitled “In Human Rights, the Cup is Two-Thirds Full,” by legal journalist Michael Goldhaber, which provides a summary of a recent Columbia Law School conference at its Human Rights Institute.  The question at hand:  has the world made progress in advancing human rights in the past [...]

This is my speech from the Houston World Affairs Council on May 19, 2008 – covering the comparative investment environments of Venezuela and Nigeria, the rise of state-owned energy companies, the decline of Washington’s soft power, and the new competition gap facing investors.

The year 1995 was very tragic for Nigeria: after years of starvation and exploitation, the ethnic minority in Ogoniland, an area rich in oil and gas, began mounting a peaceful civil society movement to demand a greater share of the oil wealth to fund infrastructure in their impoverished communities. Led by the political activist Ken [...]

This interesting piece is an excerpt from a new article by Roger Alford in the Norte Dame law journal posted on Opinio Juris:  One has a nagging suspicion that human rights litigation against corporations is a proxy fight in which the accomplice is pursued while the principal evades punishment. Indeed, if a corporation is accused [...]

This short video featuring David Henderson of the Westminster Business School puts forward a more pragmatic view of what corporate social responsibility (CSR) can and can’t achieve. Henderson argues that most traditional CSR models rest upon some very flawed assumptions about the forces of globalization.

The Economist has a great article in their latest issue about the gap between human rights organizations and business. Much work is needed to create a more fruitful engagement. Suggestions? Doing the wrong thing Oct 25th 2007 | NEW YORK Human-rights activists fall out over how to deal with companies MANY human-rights activists believe that [...]

 From Motley Fool: Corporate Social Responsibility Done Right By Rimmy Malhotra October 3, 2007 When he was the U.S. Secretary of Labor during the Clinton administration, Robert Reich garnered a reputation as a bulldog for employee rights. Among his many pro-worker initiatives were increasing the minimum wage and pushing for the Family and Medical Leave [...]