Large-Scale Investment Management: The Peace Potential of a Sovereign Wealth Fund

The literature on business and peace that has emerged over the last decade has focused on the role exercised by corporations – most especially multinationals – in fragile and conflict-affected settings. In this respect a fundamental challenge arises. Most multinational companies have many individual owners. Nowadays such large ownership positions are typically held by institutional entities that pool and manage the holdings of many thousands of investors. Whether such investors take seriously the linkage between business and peace will often impact on (or has the potential to impact on) the commitment shown by corporate boards and top management to adopt conflict-sensitive practices in fragile settings. To probe this linkage between investment, conflict, and peace, the present chapter examines Norway’s sovereign wealth fund – currently the largest in the world – to understand what role it does or could play within the business and peace arena.