Peter Utting

Peter was the Deputy Director of UNRISD where he also coordinated research projects on the global financial crisis, corporate social responsibility, business regulation, and the role of civil society actors in governance. He was responsible for overseeing the preparation of several of the Institute's flagship reports, including States of Disarray: The Social Effects of Globalization and Visible Hands: Taking Responsibility for Social Development.

Prior to joining UNRISD in 1992 Peter worked for 12 years in Central America on a range of development and environment issues, including the social impact of structural adjustment programmes, deforestation, agrarian reform and food security. Peter has a PhD and other degrees in Sociology and Development Studies. In 2011, he was Visiting Senior Scholar at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, Canada.

After his retirement, Peter Utting became an UNRISD Senior Research Associate in September 2014.

Selected publications:

• Social and Solidarity Economy: Beyond the Fringe (editor), Zed Books, 2015;
• Business, Politics and Public Policy, (co-editor José Carlos Marques), Palgrave Macmillan, 2010;
• Corporate Social Responsibility and Regulatory Governance: Towards Inclusive Development? (co-editor José Carlos Marques), Palgrave Macmillan, 2010;
• “The Changing Coordinates of Trade and Power in Latin America: Implications for Policy Space and Policy Coherence”, by Manuel Mejido, Peter Utting and Gloria Carrión, MBR Programme Paper No. 7, UNRISD, 2010;
• “CSR and Policy Incoherence”. In Macdonald, Kate and Shelley Marshall (eds.), Fair Trade, Corporate Accountability and Beyond: Experiments in Globalizing Justice, Ashgate;, 2010;
• “The Struggle for Corporate Accountability', Development and Change volume 39, issue 6, November 2008;
• Corporate Accountability and Sustainable Development, (co-editor Jennifer Clapp), Oxford University Press, 2008;
• "CSR and equality." Third World Quarterly, Vol. 28, No. 4, 2007;
• Beyond Pragmatism: Appraising UN-Business Partnerships, (co-author Ann Zammit). MBR Programme Paper, No. 1., UNRISD ;
• Reclaiming Development Agendas: Knowledge, Power and International Policy Making, (editor). Palgrave, 2006;
• “Rethinking Business Regulation: From Self-Regulation to Social Control” UNRISD Programme Paper TBS-15, October 2005;
• “Corporate Responsibility and the Movement of Business", in Development in Practice, Volume 15, June 2005;
• “Corporate Responsibility and Labour Issues in China: Reflections on a Beijing Conference” The Journal of Corporate Citizenship, Issue 10, 2003;
• “Regulating Business via Multistakeholder Initiatives”. In Jenkins. R., Utting P. and R. Alva (eds.), Voluntary Approaches to Corporate Responsibility: Readings and a Resource Guide. NGLS/UNRISD, 2002.
• “The Global Compact and Civil Society: Averting a Collision Course” Development in Practice, Volume 12, No. 5, November 2002;
• The Greening of Business in Developing Countries: Rhetoric, Reality and Prospects, (editor). Zed Books, 2002;
• "UN-Business Partnerships: Whose Agenda Counts?" Transnational Associations, No.3, 2001;
• "Business Responsibility for Sustainable Development", UNRISD Occasional Paper No. 2, 2000;
• Visible Hands: Taking Responsibility for Social Development, (co-editor), UNRISD, 2000;
• Forest Policy and Politics in the Philippines, (editor). Ateneo University Press, 2000;
• Discours et réalités des politiques participatives de gestion de l'environnement: Le cas du Sénégal, (co-edited with Ronald Jaubert). UNRISD, 1998;
• Bosques, Sociedad y Poder, Universidad Centroamericana, 1996;
• States of Disarray: The Social Effects of Globalization, (co-editor). UNRISD, 1995.
• Between Hope and Insecurity: The Social Consequences of the Cambodian Peace Process, (editor). UNRISD, 1995;
• "Social and Political Dimensions of Environmental Protection in Central America", Development and Change, Vol.25, No.1, 1994;
• Trees, People and Power: Social Dimensions of Deforestation and Forest Protection in Central America, Earthscan, 1993;
• Economic Reform and Third World Socialism, Macmillan, 1992