Implementation in International Business Self‐regulation: The Importance of Sequences and their Linkages

Self‐regulation by business is increasingly common internationally, but the effective implementation of international rules often continues to be seen as something that only states can carry out. We argue that more exclusively private forms of effective implementation can be constructed in self‐regulation. Drawing on research in private international law, public policy implementation and self‐regulation, we identify four distinct implementation sequences: monitoring, compliance, adjudication, and sanctioning. These sequences are sometimes constituted in response to deliberate integrated plans, but also come together in a decentralized manner. Many international business actors devise ways to carry out the sequences in order to implement rules that are important for them, reflecting a functional logic of implementation that is creative and pragmatic, and together constitute an important stage in the policy process of self‐regulation.     

Recalling MPs: Accountable to Whom?

The legislation on recall of MPs, introduced as a response to the parliamentary expenses scandal, was presented as filling an accountability gap. The nature of this alleged gap is examined, and it is argued that the accountability of Members of Parliament is more complicated than the recall proposal suggests. This includes issues about the regulation of parliamentary standards. Finally, the recall proposal is located within the context of discussion about the condition of representative democracy.     

New town,new capital,new workplace? The employment relations of a Japnese inward investors in West Midlands new town

In this paper we examine the chracter of employment and industrial relatins withing new manufacturing industry in a new-town setting. We show how a combination ofnational and local state initiatives generated a new patterno of manuafacturin, dominated by foreign-owned companies. Drawing from extensive fieldwork in Japanese firms, we demonstrate,contra the ‘japanization’ thesis, that greenfield sites do not proved employers with unconstained opportunities to control labour. Rather, we highlight how capoital-labour relations development through interaction between large firms, state agencies and workers, producing an evoling and contested new employment settlement. Our analysis also undelines the limits confronting local state development strategies under a neo-liberal state regime.     

Genetic Information and the Challenge to Privacy

Genetic screening and testing techniques provide a new and powerful diagnostic tool for the acquisition of predictive information. The potential value of such diagnostic techniques cannot be overstated. Genetic diagnostic tests pave the way for the development of gene therapy techniques which may provide remedies for diseases previously considered untreatable. There are clearly tremendous opportunities for improving the quality of life of those who suffer from genetic disorders as well as opportunities for biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies to swell their profits. A complex of pressures and tensions is currently developing around the use of genetic technology for therapeutic purposes in human beings. This paper considers only one element of this complex and dynamic situation, that of the regulatory climate surrounding the use of genetic screening in Europe. If, as many pharmaceutical companies concede, the key to the development of successful gene therapy products is the freedom to use genotyping and genetic screening without significant legal restriction, then the regulatory climate has a crucial significance for the future of this technology. It emerges, however, that there are other interests at stake apart from just those of the patients and the pharmaceutical companies. Insurance companies and employers are also highly interested in the acquisition and use of genetic information. There are arguments both for and against permitting such entities to use or request genetic testing and screening which shall be traversed in the body of the paper. However, the interest of insurance companies and employers in genetic information has stimulated a countercurrent of public pressure for restrictions on the use that can be made of genetic diagnostic information. In a number of countries, this pressure has generated enough concern to stimulate legislatures to seek to enact laws that curtail the use and acquisition of genetic information. This pattern has clearly emerged in the United States and there are strong indications that similar trends are developing in Europe. This article catalogues and critiques the laws and regulations currently affecting genetic screening and testing in Europe.     

Regional Development in the Knowledge-Based Economy: The Construction of Advantage

In this introduction the editors showcase the papers by way of a structured project and seek to clarify the two key concepts cited in the title. We consider the history of the idea that knowledge is an economic factor, and discuss the question of whether regions provide the relevant system of reference for knowledge-based economic development. Current transformations in university-industry-government relations at various levels can be considered as a metamorphosis in industry organization. The concept of constructed advantage will be elaborated. The various papers arising from a conference on this subject hosted by Memorial University, Newfoundland, Canada are approached from this perspective.