International law in the context of business and human rights

Chapter One sets the stage by examining the corporate rise to power and its implications for public international law. It argues that business-related human rights abuses present a conceptual challenge for three main reasons: (1) the uncertain status of corporations as subjects of international law, (2) the underdeveloped treatment of situations involving multiple actors contributing to the same harm, and (3) the growing pluralism that tests long-entrenched scholarly paradigms. To preserve the relevance of the international legal system in addressing these challenges, the book advances a model of hybrid responsibility. This model is defined by three key features: first, the multiplicity and differentiation of actors contributing to abuses, encompassing at least the direct international responsibility of the state and the indirect international responsibility of the corporation; second, the predominance of soft law in the applicable legal framework, which nonetheless produces secondary normative effects; and third, the shaping of remedies and implementation through two-level interactions between the international and domestic legal systems. The chapter explains the choice of hybridization both as an analytical lens – used to diagnose accountability gaps – and as a practical tool for closing them, and concludes by outlining the methodology adopted and the overall structure of the book.