Non-state authority and global governance

2010 ◽  
Vol 36 (S1) ◽  
pp. 113-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
DIMITRIOS KATSIKAS
Keyword(s):  
Global Governance ◽  
Analytical Tool ◽  
Transnational Governance ◽  
Private Authority ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
State Authority ◽  
Private Power ◽  
State Governance ◽  
Private Actors

AbstractNon-state actors are increasingly assuming an active part in the design and construction of the institutional framework of global governance. The introduction of the concept of private authority in the literature has provided us with an insightful analytical tool for a deeper understanding of the role of private actors in the context of global governance. However, in order to achieve this objective the concept of private authority needs to be defined accurately and applied consistently in the examination of non-state governance schemes. This article aims to delineate the concept of private authority in the context of global governance first, by outlining the main characteristics of authority and identifying instances of inconsistent and loose application of these characteristics in the private authority literature and secondly, by offering a starting point for an analytically consistent typology of non-state authority. Following this analysis, a more thoroughly defined and analytically consistent concept of transnationalinauthority is presented. This new conceptualisation locates non-stateinauthority in the amalgamation of public authority and private power in the context of complex transnational governance structures, and can hopefully helps us gain a deeper understanding of the increasing institutionalisation and legitimation of transnational non-state governance.

Rethinking Private Authority

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica F. Green
Keyword(s):  
Green Building ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Multilateral Environmental Agreements ◽  
The Past ◽  
Delegation Of Authority ◽  
Private Authority ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Private Actors ◽  
Treaty Implementation

This book examines the role of nonstate actors in global environmental politics, arguing that a fuller understanding of their role requires a new way of conceptualizing private authority. It identifies two distinct forms of private authority—one in which states delegate authority to private actors, and another in which entrepreneurial actors generate their own rules, persuading others to adopt them. Drawing on a wealth of empirical evidence spanning a century of environmental rule making, the book shows how the delegation of authority to private actors has played a small but consistent role in multilateral environmental agreements over the past fifty years, largely in the area of treaty implementation. This contrasts with entrepreneurial authority, where most private environmental rules have been created in the past two decades. The book traces how this dynamic and fast-growing form of private authority is becoming increasingly common in areas ranging from organic food to green building practices to sustainable tourism. It persuasively argues that the configuration of state preferences and the existing institutional landscape are paramount to explaining why private authority emerges and assumes the form that it does. In-depth cases on climate change provide evidence for the book's arguments. The book demonstrates that authority in world politics is diffused across multiple levels and diverse actors, and it offers a more complete picture of how private actors are helping to shape our response to today's most pressing environmental problems.

Global Rules and Private Actors: Toward a New Role of the Transnational Corporation in Global Governance

2006 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 505-532 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Georg Scherer ◽  
Guido Palazzo ◽  
Dorothée Baumann
Keyword(s):  
Global Governance ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Corporate Citizenship ◽  
Transnational Corporation ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
Business And Society ◽  
Corporate Political Activity ◽  
The Social ◽  
Private Actors

Abstract:We discuss the role that transnational corporations (TNCs) should play in developing global governance, creating a framework of rules and regulations for the global economy. The central issue is whether TNCs should provide global rules and guarantee individual citizenship rights, or instead focus on maximizing profits. First, we describe the problems arising from the globalization process that affect the relationship between public rules and private firms. Next we consider the position of economic and management theories in relation to the social responsibility of the firm. We argue that instrumental stakeholder theory and business and society research can only partially solve the global governance issue, and that more recent concepts of corporate citizenship and republican business ethics deliver theoretically and practically helpful, fresh insights. However, even these need further development, especially with regard to the legitimacy of corporate political activity.

Introduction

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica F. Green
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Politics ◽  
Global Environment ◽  
Global Environmental Problems ◽  
The Third ◽  
Global Environmental Politics ◽  
Private Authority ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Private Actors ◽  
Ruffed Lemur

This book examines how the global environment is regulated and, in particular, the diversity of actors involved in addressing the problem of climate change. It considers the role of private actors, such as nongovernmental organizations and transnational networks, in global environmental politics. It shows that private actors are increasingly assuming duties normally associated with governments. They are taking on the role of regulators, as they create, implement, and enforce rules to manage global environmental problems. The book asks when and why private actors perform these regulatory roles. It cites three examples to demonstrate the diversity of private authority and the ways in which nonstate actors are serving as rule makers: the first deals with Walmart, the second is about the ruffed lemur, and the third relates to the Kyoto Protocol. The book distinguishes between two different types of private authority: delegated authority and entrepreneurial authority.

scholarly journals WTO REGULATION OF TRANSNATIONAL PRIVATE AUTHORITY IN GLOBAL GOVERNANCE

2018 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 867-902 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ming Du
Keyword(s):  
Global Governance ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Regulatory Mechanism ◽  
Global Supply Chain ◽  
Private Regulation ◽  
International Commerce ◽  
Intergovernmental Organization ◽  
Private Authority ◽  
Private Standards

AbstractFollowing the proliferation of private standards in the global supply chain trade, it has become clear that these can have adverse effects on international commerce and world welfare in the same way that government-imposed mandatory regulations do. However, the scope of the obligation of WTO Members in relation to the regulation of private standards remains vague and open to divergent interpretations under WTO law. This article starts from the premise that the debate should move beyond the search for a reasonable interpretation of relevant WTO disciplines and instead begin to consider normative questions concerning the legitimacy and accountability of transnational private regulation in global governance and the potential role of the WTO in regulating such private authority. The article explores what justifies the role of the WTO, a multilateral intergovernmental organization, in regulating transnational private standards and how a regulatory mechanism might be designed and implemented in practice.

Emerging Informal Network Structures in Global Governance Inside the Anti-Money Laundering Regime

2008 ◽  
Vol 77 (4) ◽  
pp. 509-531 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Wilke
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Money Laundering ◽  
Global Governance ◽  
Governance System ◽  
Public Networks ◽  
Transgovernmental Networks ◽  
The Right ◽  
Private Actors ◽  
Regulatory Decisions

AbstractDuring the last decades a global governance system consisting of various decision-making arenas, shifting regulatory decisions from the domestic to the global level, has emerged. It includes informal but institutionalised transgovernmental networks, private actors such as financial institutions, hybrid private-public networks and enforcement cooperations. This essay argues that the system exhibits a democratic deficit. By analysing this claim based on the 'Anti Money Laundering Regime' (AML regime), in section two it will become clear that the deficit does not just derive from loose procedural problems such as insufficient transparency but in general from the apolitical and rather technical nature of the system itself. Section three will then proceed to analyse proposed reactions, mainly the idea of a global administrative law. However, it will not only consider the immanent critiques, but also address the problem of a functionalised world and raise and discuss the question whether the approach of 'instrumentalising' international law is the right reaction and first and foremost the future role of international law.

scholarly journals Partnering for good? An analysis of how to achieve sustainability-related outcomes in public–private partnerships

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 485-511
Author(s):  
Katharina Spraul ◽  
Julia Thaler
Keyword(s):  
Self Regulation ◽  
Theory Development ◽  
Public Private Partnerships ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Public ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
External Conditions ◽  
Private Actors ◽  
Process Elements

Abstract Since 1987, members of the United Nations have strived for improving sustainability to fulfill the vision of sustainable development. Current discussions focus on the role of collaborations between public and private actors to realize social, ecological, and economic sustainability. This study explores how public–private partnerships may contribute to the achievement of sustainability-related outcomes by analyzing a longitudinal case in the German public bathing and swimming pool sector. The empirical findings illustrate how both external conditions, such as regulation or industry-self regulation, and internal elements, such as specific structure and process elements of the public–private partnership, contribute to sustainability-related outcomes. Results reveal an interaction of specific external conditions and some internal elements. Our findings serve as a starting point for further empirical investigations of the sustainable provision of public services via public–private partnerships, and form a basis for theory development. The revealed insights result in practical implications for partners involved in public–private partnerships.

scholarly journals The role of international organizations, transnational governance, metrics and quality indicators of government activity within the framework of global governance

2020 ◽  
pp. 69-74
Author(s):  
Francisco Javier Brambila Martinez
Keyword(s):  
Quality Indicators ◽  
Global Governance ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Transnational Governance ◽  
Governance System ◽  
Political Dimension ◽  
Intergovernmental Cooperation ◽  
Equal Importance ◽  
State Administration

This article reviews the current role and mechanisms of international organizations with regards to assessing the quality of global governance. The subject of this research is the measurement and indicators of state participation in elaboration and implementation of transnational governance. The goal consists in examination of the concept of governance through the prism of Fukuyama-Manning Theory. Globalization is viewed in economic and political dimension for the purpose of determining the need to create transnational administrative frameworks. The results of global governance in the form of measurement and quality indicators of state administration are analyzed in correlative links between the production and demand of political indicators, their nature and practical advantages. The assessment of subjects engaged in the development process exemplifies of the crucial indicators of governance. In order to achieve the set research goal, the author explores the existing hypothesis on the role of international organizations within the global governance system for the purpose of determination the prospects of transnational governance. The detailed theoretical and practical approach towards measurement and metrics of state administration is was conducted by means of qualitative analysis that allowed determining the prospects of the standardized system. In conclusion, the author underlines the equal importance of governance, globalization and state policy in achievement of functional structure of global governance. This article represents a conceptual framework for supporting examination and elaboration of the systems for assessing the efficiency of activity of the governments essential for ensuring successful intergovernmental cooperation in globalization era.

scholarly journals Legitimizing Private Actors in Global Governance: From Performance to Performativity

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elke Krahmann
Keyword(s):  
Public Goods ◽  
Global Governance ◽  
Performance Assessments ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
Private Security Companies ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Democratic Control ◽  
State Governance ◽  
Private Actors

Global governance is frequently criticised because of major legitimacy deficits, including lack of public accountability and democratic control. Within this context, questions about the legitimacy of non-state governance actors, such as non-governmental organizations, transnational corporations and private security companies, are neither an exception nor a surprise. Many actors have, therefore, turned to the measurement of performance, defined as publicly beneficial outcomes, in order to gain legitimacy. However, the rise of performance assessments as legitimizing practice is not without problems. Taking global security and health interventions as examples, this article contends that the immaterial, socially constructed and inherently contested nature of such public goods presents major obstacles for the assessment of performance in terms of observable, measurable and attributable outcomes. Performance is therefore frequently replaced by performativity, i.e. a focus on the repetitive enactment of specific forms of behaviour and capabilities, which are simply equated with the intended results. The implications for how global public goods are conceptualized and, ultimately, implemented are profound.

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