Holding Global Corporations Accountable

I think that the question how to hold global corporations accountable is not a very easy question to answer, it really depends on the situation and on what kind of corporation. In the case of the clothing companies that have their clothing produced in the developing world and oftentimes under awful working conditions in the sweatshops, countries do not hold these companies accountable either because they cannot because they do not have the laws in place, or because they simply do not want to because these companies bring money into the country and create jobs (even though these jobs are under awful working conditions). In these cases, customers are the ones who could hold these companies accountable by not buying their products. However, sometimes we as customers really do not have a choice. Even though we do not agree with these companies and how they have their clothing produced, we are still buying their products because a significant number of major clothing companies have their clothes produced in sweatshops in Third World countries.

However, in the case of VW and its emissions scandal, countries are willing and are able to hold VW accountable. In many countries, VW did not abide by the environmental laws in place. Several countries have started investigations against VW and while the US is the only country so far that has filed a lawsuit, other countries probably will file lawsuits against the company, too. This is, of course, a sad example that some countries are more willing to hold a corporation accountable that breaks environmental laws than companies that have their products produced under very awful working conditions.

Therefore, as mentioned above, it really depends on the situation if and how global corporations can be held accountable for their actions. In some cases, unfortunately, states rather look the other way than hold companies accountable. In other cases, states are willing to file large lawsuits against companies that break their laws.