Repenser les responsabilites des entreprises: Propositions pour une philosophie politique du commerce

In this dissertation, I propose a conceptual and philosophical framework to think about the question of what a democratic society could legitimately ask to corporations and the business community After an overview of the ethical and political discourses on the responsibility of economic actors, I setup the basis of a normative theory of government regulation of markets, based primarily on the analysis of markets failures. Drawing on such an account of state regulation, I then critically examine the idea of social responsibility, the idea that firms are required to benefit the societies in which they operate in ways that go beyond the production, in compliance with laws and regulations, of goods and services as a part of the firm's normal (profit seeking) activities.;I also propose a critique of one the most important approach in the field of business ethics, the stakeholder theory. I try to highlight some problematic aspects of the "social role" that stakeholder theory wants to give to managers of large corporations. I also argue that it is possible to take seriously the role played by shareholders in the "classical" structures of the firm while making sense of the legitimate demands of non-shareholders groups. I finish this critical analysis of stakeholder theory in suggesting some avenues for a richer understanding of the relations of the firm with different social groups.;The focus on the role of the state in correcting market failures leads me to a political conception of corporate responsibilities, which draws our attention on the different ways corporations interfere in the political process and the shaping and reshaping of their regulatory environment. The analysis offers in the last part of this dissertation leads me to propose the basis of a normative theory of the firm as a political actor. Drawing on a critical analysis of corporate citizenship theory, I propose some theoretical avenues that would allow us to determine which political activities and relations with government regulators are appropriate or inappropriate, permissible or impermissible, obligatory or forbidden for corporations.;Keywords. political philosophy; ethics; firms; markets; state (economic role of); business; responsibility; profits; competition...