Ruling the World

doi:10.1017/9781009307703.005

3 - Ruling the World

Organizational Ecology and Bias in Global Governance

from Part I - Theorizing Rule

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 June 2023

David A. Lake

Edited by

Christopher Daase ,

Nicole Deitelhoff and

Antonia Witt

Show author details

Christopher Daase: Affiliation:
Peace Research Institute Frankfurt and Goethe University Frankfurt
Nicole Deitelhoff: Affiliation:
Peace Research Institute Frankfurt and Goethe University Frankfurt
Antonia Witt: Affiliation:
Peace Research Institute Frankfurt

Book contents

Get access

Summary

The ecology of governance organizations (GOs) matters for what is or is not ruled. The array of actors who comprise the current system of global governance, and especially private governance organizations (PGOs), has grown dramatically in recent decades. Drawing on organizational ecology, I posit that the rise of PGOs is both required and facilitated by disagreements between states that block the creation of what might be otherwise effective intergovernmental organizations (IGOs). In a form of “double-negative regulation,” states block IGOs which in turn leave open niches that are then filled by PGOs, which then both complement and sometimes substitute for state law. The organizational ecology approach outlined here extends and refocuses inquiry in systematic ways that give us a fuller understanding of how and why PGOs have emerged as one of the most striking features of the contemporary world order. The key innovations in this paper are to a) shift the level of analysis from single agents or populations of agents to the entire field of GOs, including states, IGOs, and PGOs and b) draw on principles of ecology to understand the composition and dynamics of systems of governance.

Keywords

Global governance private governance organizations organizational ecology International Accounting Standards Board (IASB)Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC)Non-state market driven regulation (NSMD)

Type: Chapter
Information: Rule in International Politics , pp. 61 - 86

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009307703.005 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abbott, Kenneth W., Genschel, Philipp, Snidal, Duncan, and Zangl, Bernhard (eds.). 2015. International Organizations as Orchestrators. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar

Abbott, Kenneth W., Green, Jessica F., and Keohane, Robert O.. 2016. “Organizational Ecology and Institutional Change in Global Governance.” International Organization 70(2): 247–277.Google Scholar

Andonova, Liliana B., Hale, Thomas N., and Roger, Charles B.. 2017. “National Policy and Transnational Governance of Climate Change: Substitutes or Complements?” International Studies Quarterly 61(2): 253–268.Google Scholar

Avant, Deborah D., Finnemore, Martha, and Sell, Susan K. (eds.). 2010. Who Governs the Globe? New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar

Bartley, Tim. 2003. “Certifying Forests and Factories: States, Social Movements, and the Rise of Private Regulation in the Apparel and Forest Products Fields.” Politics and Society 31(3): 433–464.CrossRef Google Scholar

Bartley, Tim. 2007. “How Foundations Shape Social Movements: The Construction of an Organizational Field and the Rise of Forest Certification.” Social Problems 54(3): 229–255.Google Scholar

Bartley, Tim. 2014. “Transnational Governance and the Re-Centered State: Sustainability or Legality?” Regulation and Governance 8(1): 93–109.Google Scholar

Bartley, Tim. 2018. Rules without Rights: Land, Labor, and Private Authority in the Global Economy. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar

Barton, John H., Goldstein, Judith L., Josling, Timothy E., and Steinberg, Richard H.. 2006. The Evolution of the Trade Regime: Politics, Law, and Economics of the GATT and the WTO. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar

Bradford, Anu. 2020. The Brussels Effect: How the European Union Rules the World. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRef Google Scholar

Büthe, Tim and Mattli, Walter. 2011. The New Global Rulers: The Privatization of Regulation in the World Economy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar

Carroll, Sean B. 2016. The Serengeti Rules: The Quest to Discover How Life Works and Why It Matters. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar

Cashore, Benjamin. 2002. “Legitimacy and the Privatization of Environmental Governance: How Non-State Market Driven (NSMD) Governance Systems Gain Rule-Making Authority.” Governance: An International Journal of Policy, Administration, and Institutions 15(4): 503–529.Google Scholar

Cashore, Benjamin, and Stone, Michael W.. 2012. “Can Legality Verification Rescue Global Forest Governance? Analyzing the Potential of Public and Private Policy Intersection to Ameliorate Forest Challenges in Southeast Asia.” Forest Policy and Economics 18(3): 13–22.Google Scholar

Cashore, Benjamin, Auld, Greame, and Newsom, Deanna. 2004. Governing through Markets: Forest Certification and the Emergence of Non-State Authority. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar

Dauvergne, Peter, and Lister, Jane. 2013. Eco-Business: A Big-Brand Takeover of Sustainability. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar

David, Paul A. 1985. “Clio and the Economics of Qwerty.” American Economic Review 75(2): 332–337.Google Scholar

DiMaggio, Paul J., and Powell, Walter W.. 1983. “The Iron Cage Revisited: Institutional Isomorphism and Collective Rationality in Organizational Fields.” American Sociological Review 48: 147–160.Google Scholar

Dingwerth, Klaus, and Pattberg, Philipp. 2009. “World Politics and Organizational Fields: The Case of Transnational Sustainability Governance.” European Journal of International Relations 15(4): 707–744.Google Scholar

Eriksen, Stein S., and Sending, Ole J.. 2013. “There Is No Global Public: The Idea of the Public and the Legitimation of Governance.” International Theory 5(2): 213–237.Google Scholar

Fligstein, Neil, and McAdam, Doug. 2012. A Theory of Fields. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar

FSC. 2018. Annual Report 2018, https://annual-reports.fsc.org/en#downloads (last access July 25, 2022).Google Scholar

Gourevitch, Peter A., Lake, David A., and Stein, Janice G.. 2012. The Credibility of Transnational NGOs: When Virtue Is Not Enough. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar

Green, Jessica F. 2013. “Order out of Chaos: Public and Private Rules for Managing Carbon.” Global Environmental Politics 13(2): 1–15.Google Scholar

Green, Jessica F. 2014. Rethinking Private Authority: Agents and Entrepreneurs in Global Environmental Governance. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar

Gulbrandsen, Lars H. 2005. “Sustainable Forestry in Sweden: The Effect of Competition Among Private Certification Schemes.” The Journal of Environment and Development 14(3): 338–355.Google Scholar

Gulbrandsen, Lars H. 2014. “Dynamic Governance Interactions: Evolutionary Effects of State Responses to Non-State Certification Programs.” Regulation and Governance 8(1): 74–92.Google Scholar

Hacker, Jacob S., and Pierson, Paul. 2020. Let Them Eat Tweets: How The Right Rules in an Age of Extreme Inequality. New York: Liveright.Google Scholar

Hall, Rodney B., and Biersteker, Thomas J.. 2002. “The Emergence of Private Authority in the International System.” In: Hall, Rodney B. and Biersteker, Thomas J. (eds.), The Emergence of Private Authority in Global Governance. New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 3–22.Google Scholar

Hamilton, Alexander, Jay, John, and Madison, James. 1961. The Federalist Papers (1787–88). New York: Penguin.Google Scholar

Hannan, Michael T., and Freeman, John. 1989. Organizational Ecology. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar

IFRS Foundation. 2019. Annual Report 2018, www.ifrs.org/content/dam/ifrs/about-us/funding/2018/annual-report-2018.pdf (last access July 25, 2022).Google Scholar

Jung, Danielle, and Lake, David A.. 2011. “Markets, Hierarchies, and Networks: An Agent-Based Organizational Ecology.” American Journal of Political Science 55(4): 972–990.Google Scholar

Johnson, Tara. 2014. Organizational Progeny: Why Governments Are Losing Control over the Proliferating Structures of Global Governance. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRef Google Scholar

Kinderman, Daniel. 2015. “Explaining the Rise of National Corporate Social Responsibility: The Role of Global Frameworks, World Culture, and Corporate Interests.” In: Tsutsui, Kiyoteru and Lim, Alwyn (eds.), Corporate Social Responsibility in a Globalizing World. New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 107–146.Google Scholar

Kinderman, Daniel. 2019. “The Challenges of Upward Regulatory Harmonization: The Case of Sustainability Reporting in the European Union.” Regulation and Governance 14(4): 674–697.Google Scholar

Krasner, Stephen D. 1999. Sovereignty: Organized Hypocrisy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar

Levitsky, Steven, and Ziblatt, Daniel. 2018. How Democracies Die. New York: Crown.Google Scholar

Lim, Alwyn, and Tsutsui, Kiyoteru. 2015. “The Social Regulation of the Economy in the Global Context.” In: Tsutsui, Kiyoteru and Lim, Alwyn (eds.), Corporate Social Responsibility in a Globalizing World. New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1–24.Google Scholar

Locke, Richard M. 2013. The Promise and Limits of Private Power: Promoting Labor Standards in a Global Economy. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRef Google Scholar

Loconto, Allison, and Fouilleux, Eve. 2014. “Politics of Private Regulation: ISEAL and the Shaping of Transnational Sustainability Governance.” Regulation and Governance 8(2): 166–185.CrossRef Google Scholar

Marx, Axel, and Cuypers, Dieter. 2010. “Forest Certification as a Global Environmental Governance Tool: What Is the Macro-Effectiveness of the Forest Stewardship Council?” Regulation and Governance 4(4): 408–434.Google Scholar

Milgrom, Paul R., North, Douglass C., and Weingast, Barry R.. 1990. “The Role of Institutions in the Revival of Trade: The Law Merchant, Private Judges, and the Champagne Fairs.” Economics and Politics 2(1): 1–23.Google Scholar

Nooruddin, Irfan, and Sokhey, Sarah W.. 2012. “Credible Certification of Child Labor Free Production.” In: Gourevitch, Peter A., Lake, David A., and Stein, Janice G. (eds.), The Credibility of Transnational NGOs: When Virtue Is Not Enough. New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 62–85.Google Scholar

Olegario, Rowena. 2003. “Credit Reporting Agencies: A Historical Perspective.” In: Miller, Magaret J. (ed.), Credit Reporting Systems and the International Economy. Cambridge: MIT Press, pp. 115–159.Google Scholar

Osiander, Andreas. 2001. “Sovereignty, International Relations, and the Westphalian Myth.” International Organization 55(2): 251–287.Google Scholar

Overdevest, Christine. 2010. “Comparing Forest Certification Schemes: The Case of Ratcheting Standards in the Forest Sector.” Socio-Economic Review 8(1): 47–76.Google Scholar

Overdevest, Christine, and Zeitlin, Jonathan. 2014. “Assembling an Experimental Regime: Transnational Governance Interactions in the Forest Sector.” Regulation and Governance 8(1): 22–48.Google Scholar

PEFC. 2020. PEFC Annual Review 2019, https://cdn.pefc.org/pefc.org/media/2020-04/428b28a8-8f04-45c0-af1c-d911bc0039b5/430e50ab-6653-50a6-875b-449823c04679.pdf (last access July 25, 2022).Google Scholar

Philpott, Daniel. 2001. Revolutions in Sovereignty: How Ideas Shaped Modern International Relations. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar

Roger, Charles, and Dauvergne, Peter. 2016. “The Rise of Transnational Governance as a Field of Study.” International Studies Review 18(3): 415–437.Google Scholar

Rosenau, James N. 2002. “Governance in a New Global Order.” In: Held, David and McGrew, Anthony (eds.), Governing Globalization: Power, Authority and Global Governance. Malden: Polity Press, pp. 70–86.Google Scholar

Scott, W. Richard, and Davis, Gerald F.. 2007. Organizations and Organizing: Rational, Natural, and Open System Perspectives. Upper Saddle River: Pearson/Prentice Hall.Google Scholar

Strange, Susan. 1996. The Retreat of the State: The Diffusion of Power in the World Economy. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar

Stroup, Sarah S. and Wong, Wendy H.. 2017. The Authority Trap. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar

Taylor, Alan. 2001. American Colonies: The Settling of North America. New York: Penguin.Google Scholar

Van der Ven, Hamish, Bernstein, Steven, and Hoffmann, Matthw. 2017. “Valuing the Contributions of Nonstate and Subnational Actors to Climate Governance.” Global Environmental Politics 17(1): 1–20.Google Scholar

Waltz, Kenneth N. 1979. Theory of International Politics. Reading: Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar

Wilks, Stephen. 2013. The Political Power of the Business Corporation. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar

Wong, Wendy H. 2012. Internal Affairs: How the Structure of NGOs Transforms Human Rights. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar

WWF-US. 2019. 2019 WWF-US Annual Report, http://assets.worldwildlife.org/financial_reports/37/reports/original/WWF-AR2019-FINALPAGES.pdf?1582917951&_ga=2.172903979.926075631.1592436566-1025158361.1592436566 (last access July 25, 2022).Google Scholar

Young, Oran R. 1994. International Governance: Protecting the Environment in a Stateless Society. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar

Zürn, Michael. 2018. A Theory of Global Governance: Authority, Legitimacy, and Contestation. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar

Book contents

3 - Ruling the World

Summary

Keywords

Access options

References

Save book to Kindle

Save book to Dropbox

Save book to Google Drive