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Author	Assoc Prof Liwen Lin
Organisation/Institution	University of British Columbia, Faculty of Law
Country	CANADA
Panel	Corporate Law and Governance
Title	The Global Rise of "Corporate Social Responsibility" in Corporate Legislation
Abstract	Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has evolved into a legal term, increasingly recognized as a significant component of corporate law. This article presents a global empirical survey on the emergence of CSR within corporate legislation, revealing that at least one-third of the 63 sampled countries have integrated literal or substantive CSR provisions into their corporate statutes, notably with Asian countries leading this trend. It highlights multiple pathways toward stakeholderism in corporate governance and a North-South divide in legislative strategies. These new types of CSR corporate legislation interact in complex ways with traditional stakeholderism institutions, potentially serving as valuable complements, inadequate substitutes, or merely superficial additions to existing governance structures. These new CSR provisions, as they currently stand, often face significant enforcement challenges due to inherent limitations and external factors, suggesting a tilt toward managerialism rather than a substantive shift toward stakeholderism in corporate governance. Nonetheless, codifying CSR into fundamental corporate statutes carries significant symbolic weight, which may influence corporate culture over time and contribute to a gradual shift toward more responsible corporate behavior.
Biography	I am an Associate Professor at the Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia. My research and teaching interests include comparative corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, state capitalism, Chinese law, and law and economic sociology. My research work has been published in a wide range of law and interdisciplinary journals, including American Journal of Comparative Law, the China Quarterly, Stanford Law Review, the World Trade Review, Columbia Business Law Review, Berkeley Journal of International Law, University of Pennsylvania Asian Law Review, etc.