Informal Governance and Decision-making Through Multiple Streams
Chapter 2 develops the analytical framework for the book. It sets out the twin theoretical premises of the book, the first relating to global governance at the level of actor influence and the second applying the multiple streams (MS) framework to the level of decision-making within standards-developing organizations (SDOs). It provides critical discussion of the literature on the influence of different actors in international self-regulatory fora and explains how certain actors can uphold the public interest in fora where states and public actors are largely absent. The multiple streams approach provides an in-depth account of how problems appear on SDO agendas, the nature of the contestation relating to the discussion of standards development, and the extent to which and how standards are translated to final adoption. The chapter identifies mechanisms at the conceptual level which facilitate our understanding of how deliberation of standards development lead to agreement and policy decisions.