Did transnational corporations gain power in the political arena? What does this mean for their human rights responsibility? Currently, two main directions can be identified on the question of corporate responsibility for human rights: on the one hand, the continuous development of the state’s duty to prevent human rights violations by private parties, and this includes corporations; and on the other hand, cautious approaches to the development of a direct human rights responsibility of corporations, which, however, has so far only existed in the “soft law” area, i.e. not legally enforceable.

The book concludes with an assessment of future developments on this extremely dynamic and complex topic.