Abstract

The role of governments in promoting and developing CSR is very vital in ensuring the overall effective well-being of the collaborations where the concept is concerned. With the growing consensus on the notion that corporations should not only operate within the laws and norms of the society but also contribute to its welfare. The only thing that is left unresolved about the whole issue is whether these businesses’ social involvement should be voluntary or mandatory. The understanding that businesses be left to participate in voluntary corporate social responsibility emanates from the belief that they are moral entities and therefore can govern their conduct as denoted by their corporate conscience. The call for governments to mandate CSR is of the notion that they are unable to regulate themselves in a socially responsible manner. This may however, not be the case, but the fact that CSR has developed beyond the notion of philanthropy, therefore treating it like that is all there is to it is doing injustice to the concept, the business involved, and the people who are to benefit from the maximized exploration and understanding of the concept. The rise of the contemporary CSR agenda has given rise to new kinds of policy and also new roles of governments to ensure the smooth implementation and regulation of the concept for the benefit of all people.

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