Government and CSR

Governments are normally distinguished from other organizations as having legitimate authority over a specified area, conventionally the nation. On this basis they are able to issue national public policy, particularly in the form of rules. Local governments have delegated powers to make public policy in their jurisdictions, and in some federal systems (e.g. Australia, Canada, the USA) sub-national polities, now called states and provinces, pre-dated the national governments and thus possess policy-making powers independent of their respective national governments. Since World War II there has been the growth of international governmental organizations (e.g. the United Nations, the World Trade Organization) which, though possessing limited legal authority, nonetheless bring the imprimatur of the collectivity of national governments to their social, political and market policies. Notwithstanding their different authority bases and material powers, national, state, local and international governments make policies that shape the environments— including markets— within which corporations operate, and hence their relevance to CSR.