The Journal for Business, Economics & Ethics / Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Unternehmensethik (zfwu) is a scholarly journal. Through its interdisciplinary theoretical and practical orientation at the crossroads of economics and (practical) philosophy, it primarily provides the discipline as well as interested representatives of business, politics and other relevant institutions with a high level business ethics discussion forum. The zfwu is published three times a year. The languages of publication are German and English.

zfwu 12/1 (2010):
Global Standards: Between Regulation, Normativity, and Rhetoric
Deadline for submissions: 10/15/2010

Business ethics has become more and more institutionalized over the past decades. This holds true for the global level in particular, where various standards related to corporate responsibility have been set since the 1970s. They span from codes of conducts, guidelines and principles to ethical, environmental and social norms and are developed and implemented by public, private or hybrid actors. These approaches are characterized by two features: they go beyond individual measures and deal with aspects of governance in a globalised world.

The planned zfwu issue ‘Global standards: between regulation, normativity and rhetoric’ will shed some light on the role of CSR standards in the context of global governance. How do these standards contribute to resource management, fair economic relations or the compliance with and implementation of human rights? Are global norms more than well-intentioned rhetoric? How can global standards be designed to be both efficient and legitimating? Under which cultural and socio-historical conditions have global standards been developed and are still being developed? Can governance through CSR standards be more than the dichotomy of ‘voluntary’ and ‘mandatory’? How can global standards be conceived from an ethical perspective (and apart from the dominating approach of social science) and what are the consequences?

To answer these questions, we look for both empirical-comparative and theoretical (social science and normative) studies that deal with the overlap of corporate social responsibility and global governance.

Guest editors for this issue are Thomas, Hajduk (Europäische Universität Viadrina, Frankfurt/ Oder, Germany) and Jan Hendrik Quandt (Universität Bielefeld, Germany), working in collaboration with Thomas Beschorner (Université de Montréal, Canada and Universität St. Gallen, Switzerland) of the zfwu.

Contact: Thomas Beschorner, email:

Information for Authors
Please take note of the author guidelines on our homepage www.zfwu.de before sending in manuscripts. You will find there, besides the required formalities, the style guide [zfwu.dot], which will facilitate the technical aspect of the work. The editorial team is at your disposal to answer any questions.

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