Tethered Fates: Companies, Communities, and Rights at Stake

Product Description

Since the 1990s, human rights advocates, business leaders, and consumers have become increasingly attuned to mitigating sweatshop labor and other abuses in the supply chains that manufacture the clothing, electronics, and countless other products that we buy and use each day. But we know
surprisingly little about how companies interact with people in the communities
beyond the factory’s walls. In many cases, community members are left out of the process of identifying both risks and solutions to problems in global supply chains, including how global companies could add social value
in the localities where they operate. Business, governments, and civil society are supposed to be jointly responsible for shaping the remedies available to people harmed in the course of business activity, wherever it takes place. However, the answer to the question of how to do this remains
underdeveloped and poorly executed. This book explores the conditions under which local communities and companies can work with one another and the types of remedies available in one of the most widespread and challenging sectors: light manufacturing.

Tethered Fates draws on quantitative data (including the 7,000-company database of the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre) and original qualitative data to analyze regional and industry-specific trends in stakeholder dialogue globally and at the local level. The book features original
interviews with community members in two factory towns in the Dominican Republic, whose perspectives shed light on the prospects for dialogue with companies and the challenges of everyday life in towns where light manufacturing takes place.
Tethered Fates does more than simply explain why
stakeholder dialogue often falls short as a vehicle for safeguarding economic rights and promoting community development. It also offers an assessment of the varieties of emerging policy alternatives for moving beyond the current state of practice.

Review

“This book is a timely addition to the literature on the promise and limitation of CSR [corporate social responsibility] and the private governance of transnational production…. a wealth of methodological insights…allows Hertel to provide fascinating, empirically rich accounts of individual
everyday socioeconomic challenges in light of the local incarnation of economic globalization and perceptions of community needs, as well as knowledge of, interest in, experiences with, and assessments of stakeholder dialogues between the local community and the companies that tie them to global
value chains.” — Tim Büthe,
Perspectives on Politics

”
Tethered Fates, though neatly structured and designed around two tightly focused case studies, is a radical book in many ways; it encourages the reader to think deeply about everything from the nature of consultation to broader themes like responsibility for poverty and the very role of business in
society. As a short, engagingly written work, it is very accessible for non-specialists, as well as anyone with an interest in the business human rights or business ethics fields.” — Andy Symington,
Australian Journal of Human Rights

“Overall, the author successfully brings together diverse sources of data to present a rich and compelling narrative that draws attention to the underexplored experiences of stakeholders connected to the activities of global businesses. The findings and recommendations in
Tethered Fates can provide
practical guidance to practitioners and can set an agenda for future research on how international businesses engage with local communities.” — Rachel Alexander,
ILR Review

“Shareen Hertel’s careful and timely research eloquently exposes how business-influenced social responsibility initiatives often leave community members out of the remedy process when harmed by business activities. In contrast, ‘worker-driven social responsibility’ (WSR) initiatives provide the
crucial element of grassroots engagement