Transparency in transnational governance: The determinants of information disclosure of voluntary sustainability programs

The rise of “new” transnational governance has intensified debates about a lack of accountability in global politics. Reviewing the mechanisms through which transparency can foster accountability beyond the state, this article explores the determinants of information disclosure in the field of transnational sustainability governance. Examining the institutional design of 113 voluntary sustainability programs, we find a positive correlation between the involvement of public actors and information disclosure. In contrast, the role of civil society is more ambiguous. There is no statistical support for arguments linking non‐governmental organization participation to increased transparency. At the same time, our analysis reveals a robust correlation between civil society‐led metagovernance and information disclosure. Moreover, we find that crowding has a negative effect on transparency, whereas normative peer pressures have no influence. At a broader level, the analysis reveals a lack of “deep transparency” among transnational sustainability governors. This limits the scope for transparency‐induced accountability in this policy domain.     

When doctors shape policy: The impact of self‐regulation on governing human biotechnology

This paper investigates the development and adoption of governance modes in the field of human biotechnology. As the field of human biotechnology is relatively new, voluntary professional self‐regulation constituted the initial governing mode. In the meantime, with the exception of Ireland, all Western European countries have moved toward greater state intervention. Nevertheless, they have done so in contrasting ways and the resulting governance modes for assisted reproductive technology and embryonic stem‐cell research vary greatly. Instead of imposing their steering capacity in a “top‐down” fashion, governments have taken pre‐existing self‐regulatory arrangements in the field into account and built up governance mechanisms in conjunction with private actors and pre‐existing modes of private governance. Our analysis demonstrates that the form and content of the initial self‐regulation explain why the self‐steering capacity of the medical profession was largely or at least partially preserved through hybrid governance systems in Britain and Germany, while in France the self‐regulation was entirely replaced by governmental intervention.     

Steering at a Distance: A New Paradigm of Public Governance in Dutch Higher Education

In the 1980s a new concept of government steering was developed at the Dutch ministry of Education and Sciences, called “steering at a distance.” It is a departure from “classical” government steering by means of legislation, prohibitions and regulations and a move towards more autonomy and self-responsibility for institutions of higher education. This new paradigm of public governance in Dutch higher education represents a drastic change both in a practical sense — the new steering concept has actually been carried out and implemented resulting in major institutional, legal, financial and planning changes — and in the scientific sense. The new concept departs from hierarchical, direct top-down control. Government is only one of the influencing actors in a complex network of many interrelated, more or less autonomous actors. The new concept contributes to the scientific body of knowledge on steering in complex interorganizational networks.     

Global corporate responsibility in domestic context: lateral decoupling and organizational responses to globalization

This paper examines how the domestic reception of global corporate responsibility is significantly shaped by institutionalized differences among state, business and civil society actors in the domestic context. In the global diffusion of ideas and practices, the decoupling of global policies and domestic practice is endemic, a process that this paper argues results from competing domestic interests and orientations. I examine this process of ‘lateral decoupling’ in a case study of the reception of the United Nations Global Compact among corporate responsibility practitioners in the city-state of Singapore. Differences in ceremonial, pragmatic and non-adversarial orientations towards global corporate responsibility generated significant uncertainty for businesses around how to apply corporate responsibility principles. In response, businesses constructed distinct narratives: large transnational and domestic companies emphasized values, community and tradition, while small businesses focused on the competitive advantages of corporate responsibility. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of domestic institutions for mediating global principles and local outcomes.     

理解治理多样性：一种国家治理的新科学

现代社会及其公共事务的复杂性对治理构成了严峻的挑战。为了应对公共事务的复杂性、多规模性、嵌套性和动态性,很多研究者提出了不同的治理理论,并且都试图寻找“治理万能药”,以一种治理方式适用所有情景。然而人类要真正解决所面临的公共事务治理难题,就需要实现“认识论哲学”的转型,以“多样性”的思维范式取代“单一性”思维范式,按照“治理多样性”的新范式来重构治理体制“。治理多样性”分析范式是一种治理的新科学,其分析框架主要包括“行动者、机制、物品属性、结构和绩效”等要素,核心是公共事务与治理系统的有效匹配,实现基于“多行动者——多机制——多属性——多结构——多目标”的治理,多样性是其内在逻辑。治理本身是一个复杂演进和相互调适的过程“。治理多样性”要应用于治理实践,就需要发展出“诊断、设计和学习模型”。     

农村基层治理:科层制抑或反科层化?——基于桂南Q市“联镇包村”制度运作的调研分析

农村基层治理是国家治理体系的重要组成部分,也是各级政府提升社会治理能力的重要抓手。以“包发展、包党建、包稳定”为主导的联镇包村制度是地方政府回应国家加强农村基层治理的一项制度安排,在制度运行中显现出如下特点:组织高层依赖权威治理,化解政策执行阻力;委派单位依赖代理治理,缓和基层社会矛盾;驻村干部依赖指标治理,提高主体责任意识的科层制路径依赖特性。在压力型体制下,不同行动者的行动逻辑显现出差异化:组织高层由“权威动员”向“参与互动”转变;委派单位由“分利失序”向“合作共治”转变;驻村干部由“被动回应”向“主动服务”转变。这种反科层化的运作方式推动联镇包村制度运行,以此提升基层自治组织的治理能力,进而推动农村基层走向“善治”。     

Can private governance boost public policy? Insights from public–private governance interactions in the fisheries and electricity sectors

Based on the inductive analysis of two parallel cases of private environmental governance – private, market-driven fisheries governance and private, market-driven governance for electricity decarbonization – this paper uncovers a trigger for positive public policy spillovers from private environmental governance. It identifies circumstances that prompt groups of business actors working as private regulators to also take on a role as public policy advocates and supporters, revealing a potential for private governance initiatives that are targeted at a particular environmental problem to serve as a bolster for the public regulatory governance of that problem as well. Both private governance cases at the basis of this analysis feature groups of business actors seeking to meet voluntary sustainability goals through the tools of private governance (specifically, through flexing buyer power and private authority in an effort to reform environmentally problematic practices among particular groups of suppliers). In both cases, the business's inability to attain private sustainability goals though private governance means alone has given rise to business demand for facilitative public environmental policy and regulation. The analysis presented in this paper thus points to the occurrence of a particular and intriguing pattern of complementarity between private authority and public policy – one where public policy is called on to fill gaps left by private environmental governance and authority. And it identifies key conditions for such private-governance-driven recentering of public policy to occur, namely the presence of private supply chain greening goals and commitments that are economically, reputationally, and/or competitively critical for businesses to attain, combined with shortfalls in the capacity of businesses' private authority to bring about such attainment. The two case analysis further suggests the importance of ENGOs in identifying and activating some of the opportunities for leveraging shortfalls in private environmental governance to the advantage of public environmental policy and regulation.     

Commentary: The Politics of Distrust

Abstract

Scholars have recently begun to study civil society on the regional level more systematically. When regionalization of civil society is studied, it is often understood within processes of regional governance in which state actors craft regional institutions and policy frameworks to solve common problems. Yet, most studies dealing with civil society in regional governance have a state-centric approach, focusing on the marginalization of civil society organizations (CSOs) in such processes, treating them as rather passive actors. This is especially true for research on southern Africa. Contrary to previous studies, this article shows under what circumstances CSOs are granted space in regional policy-making related to the Southern African Development Community (SADC). It is concluded that, in light of CSOs' material and economic weakness, one of the key factors determining their advocacy success on the regional level is production of knowledge and strategic use of communication tools. Even though many challenges remain, for example, the power structures inherent in the SADC, the case of civil society advocacy around the SADC is a sign of a new form of participatory regional governance in the making, which is more democratic than present modes of regional governance in Africa.     

Governance landscapes for emerging technologies: The case of cryptocurrencies

Scholars call for “adaptive governance” to balance concern about technology uncertainty with the need for innovation in the governance of emerging technologies. Yet, empirical assessment of such governance systems remains sparse. Do the actors interested in the potential regulation of an emerging technology focus on their own interests and opportunities, or do they think in terms of the collective interest? We focus on the actors who embed such systems from a novel landscape perspective that combines two dimensions of governance: the nature of the regulatory target, and the nature of the process they advocate for governing the target. We present data from over 70 actors in the area of cryptocurrencies for evaluating this new logic.     

The Democratic Soup: Mixed Meanings of Political Representation in Governance Networks

This article explores how political representation is enacted in governance networks, where interdependent actors from government, business, and civil society coproduce public policy. A combined dramaturgical and discourse analysis considers how representation is staged, performed, and articulated in a case study of recent Dutch energy reforms. The findings suggest that networks produce a kind of "democratic soup" where actors and institutions enact alternative meanings of representation that sit uncomfortably alongside representative democracy's emphasis on political authorization, accountability, and responsiveness. These democratic attributes appear to be decoupled from representation in governance networks and thus need to be secured through other means.     

Contested governance: The new repertoire of the Eurozone crisis

The austerity policies that EU policymakers adopted in response to the Eurozone crisis are often criticized as the product of institutionalized neoliberal ideas. This critique has merits, but tends to overlook institutional changes that do not neatly conform to well demarcated neoliberal ideas considered as “switchmen,” “paradigms,” or “blueprints.” This article offers an alternative reading of the Eurozone's institutional evolution that bridges pragmatist scholarship with cognitive and social psychology. The Eurozone crisis saw the emergence of a new and contested repertoire of governance. Policymakers agreed that “stronger governance” was necessary, but they struggled over how to perform that repertoire. This contest ultimately produced institutional changes that typically mixed austerity and unconventional policies. The advantage of thinking about ideas in terms of repertoires that actors perform is to afford a more granular view of institutions as sites of individual cognition, collective innovation, and political contestation.     

Understanding What Shapes a Polycentric Governance System

Recent research has shown that communication networks involving governmental and nongovernmental actors self‐organize based on how risk is perceived. According to the “risk hypothesis,” actors embedded in governance systems in which there is widespread risk of defection tend to form bonding structures, whereas those in low‐risk systems form bridging structures. A parallel strand of research proposes to study complex governance systems composed of multiple actors and the decision‐making forums in which they interact. In this article, the authors couple these research threads and show how bonding and bridging structures form when stakeholders participate in three complex governance systems of varying institutional strength. Findings suggest that the prevalence of one type of structure over the other depends on contextual variables such as the stability of the institutions and the occurrence of environmental focusing events that demand quick policy responses.     

旧乡村里的新城区：城市“新增空间”的社区风险治理

伴随城镇化建设的迅速推进，我国城市群和中心城市周边出现了大面积“新增空间”。由于地处城乡结合带，人口结构复杂、城乡文明交融，城市“新增空间”很容易成为“风险集中带”，大量风险矛盾向社区层面挤压。调研发现：生长于旧乡村的新城区，面临城镇新市民融城之难、治理主体权利互损之险、社区治理滞后之乱等风险。引入无缝隙政府和整体性治理的视角后分析得出：城市新增空间的社区风险是上游政府职责缺失问题在下游社区的集中爆发，社区治理面临“政府职责脱嵌”与“政府社会失联”的“双重缝隙”。为推进社区治理，应当构建“前期土地审批规划—中期质量监管—后期社区管理和自治”的无缝隙职责体系，强化政府社会之间的整体性治理。     

THE “INVASION” OF MANUFACTURED CIVIL SOCIETY: GOVERNMENT–NONPROFIT PARTNERSHIPS IN A BRAZILIAN STATE

The growth of the nonprofit sector in Brazil has been conceptually similar to that of the Anglo‐Saxon Third Way, where the government promotes the creation of partnerships with civil society. This process has been criticized for creating a “manufactured civil society”. This study will investigate whether the same pattern can be observed in the Brazilian context, particularly within the Management Shock Reform implemented by Minas Gerais, one of the principal Brazilian states. Management Shock is guided by a governmental partnership discourse that promotes contractual partnerships with both businesses and nonprofits. We opted for a bottom‐up oriented research approach, aiming to comprehend the rationale for initiating and sustaining the partnerships revealed in the narratives that emerged from both government and nonprofit partners. Data were collected through semistructured interviews and content analysis of documents and the media. Results show the predominance of agency‐type partnerships, highlighting the centrality of the government and its techno‐bureaucratic role in fostering and maintaining Organização da Sociedade Civil de Interesse Público or Civil Society Organization of Public Interest designs. Differing from the Anglo‐Saxon context, we observed the “invasion” of market‐driven values in nonprofits and, to some extent, in government narratives. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The politics of resonance: Transnational sustainability governance in Argentina

Why do private governance initiatives trigger greater participation in one country than another? This article examines the domestic dimension of transnational regulation through a case study of private sustainability governance in Argentina. Drawing from theories of contentious politics, the argument poses that the resonance of transnational private governance is shaped by the semantic compatibility of “incoming” sustainability programs against national political culture. Analyzing the limited participation of Argentine actors in contemporary sustainability initiatives, the article claims that the validity and relevance of sustainability programs is affected by three dimensions of national political culture accentuated over the last decade: a politicized model of state‐society relations, the low visibility of environmental matters, and a widespread anti‐corporate culture. By examining the ideational fundamentals of the “politics of resonance” in Argentina, the article makes a relevant and original contribution to transnational regulation literature, highlighting the need for theoretical accounts and empirical analyses that address domestic and cultural variables as fundamental pieces in transnational norm diffusion and effectiveness.     

Fragmented or cohesive transnational private regulation of sustainability standards? A comparative study

Literature on private regulation recognizes the proliferation of competing regulatory organizations and approaches in various industries. Studies analyzing why fragmentation arises so far focus on single‐case studies, the exploration of single variables, or variation in types of fragmentation. This article analyzes why in certain industries and for certain issues regulatory organizations proliferate, while in others a single regulatory organization emerges which covers the entire industry. Through a comparative case study of private regulation of sustainability standards in the forestry, clothing, IT‐electronics, and chemicals industries, we show how a combination of low industrial concentration, civil society involvement in governance, and stringent standards of a first‐moving regulator offer the strongest explanation for a fragmented private regulatory field, while high industrial concentration, business‐driven governance, and lenient standards of a first‐moving regulator lead to cohesive regulation.     

Policy Deliberation as a Goal: The Case of Chinese ENGO Activism

Since it was first introduced in the late 1990s, the concept of deliberative democracy has had policy appeal for both Chinese policymakers and scholars. The Chinese government has recently introduced various deliberative institutions in a top-down manner to address diverse governance challenges. Deliberation at the level of civil society, however, has remained largely limited under the Chinese authoritarian regime setting. This paper illustrates how Chinese civil society actors have increasingly exerted bottom-up pressure to attain a greater degree of deliberation, transparency, and accountability in policymaking, by using the case of a series of anti-dam campaigns conducted by environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) over the past decade. Throughout their campaigns, ENGOs have urged both the central and local governments to adopt more participatory and transparent policymaking and examine the potential social and environmental impacts of large dams. They have done so particularly by invoking the very laws and policies that the government has recently introduced. This study suggests that future research on deliberative democracy in China should pay greater attention to non-state actors and their roles in practicing and promoting bottom-up deliberation.     

Can the hidden hand of the market be an effective and legitimate regulator? The case of animal welfare under a labeling for consumer choice policy approach

In Australia, labeling for consumer choice, rather than higher government regulation, has become an important strand of the policy approach to addressing food animal welfare. This paper illustrates the usefulness of “regulatory network analysis” to uncover the potentials and limitations of market‐based governance to address contentious yet significant issues like animal welfare. We analyzed the content of newspaper articles from major Australian newspapers and official policy documents between 1990 and 2014 to show how the regulatory network influenced the framing of the regulatory problem, and the capacity and legitimacy of different regulatory actors at three “flashpoints” of decisionmaking about layer hen welfare in egg production. We suggest that the government policy of offering consumers the choice to buy cage free in the market allowed large‐scale industry to continue the egg laying business as usual with incremental innovation and adjustment. These incremental improvements only apply to the 20 percent or so of hens producing “free‐range” eggs. We conclude with a discussion of when and how labeling for consumer choice might create markets and public discourses that make possible more effective and legitimate regulation of issues such as layer hen welfare.     

THE MARKET PROVISION OF MANDATORY SOCIAL SECURITY: Protecting the Public Interest in Perpetuity

Pressures to introduce market reforms to public social security system emerged as a reaction to state welfare paternalism, drawing strength from the spirit of liberalism and emphasizing the virtues of the marketplace. Market reform advocates seek to shift the prevailing social security paradigm away from community solidarity to individual responsibility, with a view to divesting government of some of its statutory social security responsibilities. Market reform of public social security provision redefines the public‐private boundary, making socio‐political governance more a process of co‐ordination, steering, influencing, and balancing pluralist interactions, with the civil service increasingly expected to act as trustee of the public interest. What, however, the public interest is and how it differs from private interest is problematic and it should reflect the shared values that create social bonds and identity within a society. The daunting twin challenges facing governments are to design a set of regulatory arrangements that can protect the public interest in perpetuity, and to resist calls for government subsidies to support the economic rent expectations of privatized providers. To meet these challenges the “hollowed‐out” state must become a “smart” state.     

Regulatory capabilities: A normative framework for assessing the distributional effects of regulation

This paper develops the normative concept of “regulatory capabilities.” It asserts that nobody – individuals, groups, or entities – should be subjected to a regulatory regime without some freedom to determine its nature. Self‐determination in this context means the ability to accept or reject a regulatory regime imposed by others or to develop viable alternative approaches. We use the term “regulatory capabilities” to capture the importance of enabling conditions for regulatory self‐determination. This is particularly important in the transnational context where private, hybrid public–private, and public actors compete for influence, shape domestic regulation, and, in doing so, limit the scope for democratic self‐governance. In short, this paper seeks to contribute to the general debate on the normative foundations of and the requisite conditions for transnational regulation and governance.