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2 results

Private Governance and Public Authority
  • Regulating Sustainability in a Global Economy
  • Stefan Renckens
  • Published online:
    02 April 2020
    Print publication:
    02 April 2020
  • At a time of significant concern about the sustainability of the global economy, businesses are eager to display responsible corporate practices. While rulemaking for these practices was once the prerogative of states, businesses and civil society actors are increasingly engaged in creating private rulemaking instruments, such as eco-labeling and certification schemes, to govern corporate behavior. When does a public authority intervene in such private governance and reassert the primacy of public policy? Renckens develops a new theory of public-private regulatory interactions and argues that when and how a public authority intervenes in private governance depends on the economic benefits to domestic producers that such intervention generates and the degree of fragmentation of private governance schemes. Drawing on European Union policymaking on organic agriculture, biofuels, fisheries, and fair trade, he exposes the political-economic conflicts between private and public rule makers and the strategic nature of regulating sustainability in a global economy.

  • 1 - Introduction

  • Stefan Renckens, University of Toronto
  • Book:
    Private Governance and Public Authority
    Published online:
    02 April 2020
    Print publication:
    02 April 2020, pp 1-24

  • Summary

    Under which conditions will a public authority intervene in private governance such as certification and eco-labeling schemes for sustainably produced goods? This chapter introduces this research question by presenting the empirical puzzle the book addresses: Why has the European Union (EU) intervened in private governance that deals with organic agriculture and biofuels, but has not intervened in private governance dealing with fair trade and fisheries? The chapter distinguishes between a public authority intervening with standards regulation that involves creating a public definition of sustainable production, and with procedural regulation that addresses the way private governance schemes are organized. The argument the book develops is that whether a public authority intervenes with standards and/or procedural regulation depends on the interplay of two variables: the domestic benefits of product differentiation by a public authority and the fragmentation of the private governance market. The chapter situates the book in the current state of the literature on the interactions between public and private governance and explains the research design and research contributions.