Abstract

Law is the presence of the social past, the organising of the social present and the conditioning of the social future. The paper analyses this three-fold social function played by international law in the context of Corporate Social Responsibility (hereafter ‘CSR’).

It studies the social past by looking at how international organisations functioned as law making bodies after the advent of globalisation in the early nineties. It then examines the social present by looking at the concept of ‘Responsible Business Conduct’ and the response of international organisations to the Covid-19 pandemic. To predict the social future, the paper will attempt to determine the possibilities of achieving ‘peace through commerce’ and ‘peace through CSR activities’. It also discusses in brief the CSR initiative under ‘Operation Sadbhavana’ that was used to counter terrorism through employment of the Kashmiri youth.

Keywords: Social function; corporate social responsibility; globalisation; international organisations; responsible business conduct; Covid-19; peace through commerce; peace through CSR; counter terrorism.