The corporate social credit system in China and its transnational impact

Abstract

The Social Credit System (SCS) is on the verge of becoming a new regulatory reality. The CCP is changing its governance tools by combining social management and big data. This article provides an overview on the possible impact of the SCS on corporations (CSCS) and analyses its potential extraterritorial effects. The role of transnational law (TL) as a political project is discussed and TL is thus a subject of this paper. Yet, concepts of TL are also used methodologically, as an analytical framework, to make subtle extraterritorial effect and potential legal change visible. The paper places the CSCS in the centre of the analysis and considers technological development, a changing geopolitical landscape, economic interdependence and the behaviour of individuals. The CSCS is an emerging example of the strategic and flexible norm diffusion of powerful states—which underlines the importance of TL as a problem orientated and border-transcending analytical framework.