<i>’This edited volume represents a major contribution to scholarship on the role in private standards in global governance. It brings together a wealth of important new research written by a distinguished group of scholars. It is noteworthy not only for the breadth and depth of its case-studies, but by its extensive analysis of the legal dimensions of private standard setting and enforcement.’</i>
- David Vogel, University of California, Berkeley, US,
<i>’This book draws out the profound implications and transformational dynamics of multi-level global governance of natural resources, labour standards and particularly food safety. The hybrid private-public governance of these supply chains has in some contexts made large western retailer groups more dominant regulators than states. Yet the new regulatory governance is more pluralistic in its flux than a shift from state to retailer hegemony. Governance by contracts of global sway more than government by statutes of states drives regulatory innovation. Legal entrepreneurs and model mongers of many stripes inspire this innovation. Political theory is yet to come to grips with the significance of the shifts this thoughtful collection ably traces.’</i>
- John Braithwaite, Australian National University,
The expert contributors assess the state-of-the-art with regard to private regulation of food, natural resources and labour conditions. They begin with an introduction to, and discussion of, several leading existing private standards, and go on to assess private food standards and their legitimacy and effectiveness in the context of the global trade regime.
This truly multidisciplinary assessment of the scope and importance of private standards as a governance tool in a globalizing world will prove to be an enlightening read for a wide-ranging audience encompassing: academics, students, researchers, policymakers and analysts focusing on private forms of governance in several sectors including economics, law, politics, development, environment and agriculture.
Contributors: E. Becault, F. Cafaggi, L. Colen, L. Cuyvers, T. De Meyer, N. Hachez, S. Henson, J. Humphrey, M. Maertens, A. Marx, J. Swinnen, G.H. Stanton, F. van Waarden, J. Wouters