444 By Susan Ariel Aaronson and David Deese With a reaction by ...

EITI. As noted above, EITI does not actually require its supporting firms to disclose alltheir operations everywhere.Moreover, EITI alone is insufficient to help these countries prevent the resourcecurse. In several EITI implementing countries, civil society is often nonexistent, poorlyorganized or ineffectual. The individuals staffing NGOs in the developing world maylack the education, organizational and dissemination skills, and political savvy to use theinformation provided under EITI to change their governments’ behavior. But corporatesupporters of EITI have been reluctant to support changes to EITI obligations.185Going the Way of the Dinosaurs?This essay examined the big five international oil companies as proxies to discusshow corporations respond to the challenges of “responsible stakeholdership.” We beganby noting how difficult it is for any firm to consistently act as responsible stakeholders;and it is particularly challenging for oil and gas companies which are limited as to wherethey can drill for oil and gas. We described the oil companies as hugely profitablebehemoths, confronted with dramatically changing market conditions. We also noted thatthe oil companies have unique operating conditions; they are often the largest and/or onlyinvestor in nations where they operate and bear extreme financial and political risk.These firms also shoulder a range of different responsibilities: including providingenergy; investing in alternative sources of supply; not undermining global norms for theenvironment and human rights. If managed with sensitivity towards these responsibilities,their operations could help advance human rights, cap harmful emissions, and stimulateeconomic growth—yet the record often reveals the opposite. Oil companies have indeedearned their reputation as socially and environmentally irresponsible. These firms have at465