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These times are very troubled ones. Not only do wars and political unrest seem to prevail in different regions of the world, but, corruption and fraud have reached an incredible dimension, too. It seems that societies have, to a large extent, lost values in which they had formerly believed in. These issues may be the background why at the moment Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as a voluntary commitment is discussed in public that intensively. However, one gets the impression that this rather often seems to be superficial. Therefore, it is time to do some in-depth research to identify whether there is real substance behind these discussions or not. Latin America is a big continent with a greater number of countries which are running through difficult times as to corruption and fraud. Consequently, the author studied the policy of the central employers association Consejo Empresarial de America Latina (CEAL) with respect to the role of CSR. On the basis of statements, news and results of studies being regularly published, conclusions were drawn to which extent social and environmental aspects, along the line of ISO 26000, are playing a relevant role.
In order to avoid a too narrow view of the issue, a holistic approach concerning the generalsituation of Latin America has been selected using parameters such as economic growth, increase of population, poverty, inequality, and the global responsibility for environment. Furthermore, apart from the central organization CEAL, regional and national institutions with a specific mission for spreading and implementing CSR and two communal projects were analyzed as well. The conclusion of the paper is that there are some CSR "lighthouses" but an urgent need exists to spread the idea of CSR more intensively across the continent. Corresponding recommendations about how to increase the relevance of CSR in Latin America are given at the end of the paper.
Recent findings in South Africa have once again underlined the fact that the oldest people in the world obviously came from Africa. Thus, historically, this continent has a very special significance. However, its history in more recent times, especially from the mid-19th century onwards, was strongly influenced by colonisation by European states. Many deep wounds from that time still have an impact on society as a whole today. However, the continent is currently also confronted with a greater number of challenges of a different nature.
On the one hand, Africa is trying to strengthen internal cohesion by means of a number of regional organisations and the African Union as a globally active institution; on the other hand, the continent has been marked by political and military conflicts between neighbouring states over the past decades until the recent present. In addition, there are regular internal social upheavals in individual countries due to violent or manipulated political change.
Yet the continent could well be on a good development path, since it has a large number of important raw materials - also in comparison to other continents. However, the individual African states - and especially their citizens - often do not benefit from this to an adequate extent. This results in a social imbalance in large parts of the continent (data collection until the end of June 2023), which leads to considerable internal tensions. To make matters worse, Africa is the continent most affected by climate change.
A closer look at the partly very different economic, political and social situations of the large continent leads to an overall predominantly critical assessment of Africa's further development, which is explained in more detail in the final chapter with regard to the foreseeable consequences for the continent.