Hot Spot Sustainable Democracy: Business, Politics and Sustainability: An uneasy marriage or a match made in heaven?

Firms have tremendous influence on politics, which should constrain and enable their activities and play a fundamental role in our ability to achieve sustainable societies – or in our failure to do so. In this seminar, we discuss the role of firms in sustainable value creation in their roles as producers, as individual organizations in need of (collective) interest representation, and as political actors in their own right. Tjidde will briefly reflect upon the current normative debates on corporate responsibility and will show that firms have both moral and political responsibilities for a more sustainable society. Geert Braam will discuss tensions between the interests of companies and the government and their consequences for corporate behavior and actions. Alex Lehr will discuss his ongoing work on the interests and interest representation of firms, including a very first presentation of the findings from a survey on sustainability and representation of small and medium-sized firms in the Netherlands.