As companies 'go global' they increasingly use factories and facilities spread across the world. But who regulates their activities in far flung corners of the world economy? In many sectors such as textiles and apparel, chemicals, and forestry, the answer is that companies regulate their own behaviour through codes and standards which they agree among themselves. The recent growth in corporate self-regulation of labour, environmental and financial practices has attracted the attention of scholars who have detailed the number and content of self-regulatory efforts in various sectors. Missing so far, however, has been an analysis of the effectiveness and impact of self-regulation. Does self-regulation actually work and under what conditions is it most likely to be effective? The answer to this question is particularly important for developing countries where corporate self-regulation is often seen as substitute for weak governance structures. The chapters in this volume evaluate the effectiveness of self-regulation compared to other forms of global regulation. Across sectors and states, corporate self-regulation works best when those who are regulated have a voice in deciding the content of codes and standards and when some mechanism of compliance exists at the level of the state. Unfortunately, opportunities for voice and state capacity for regulation are often lacking in developing countries. Given this, the book suggests some minimal forms of government action and participation by global actors that can make global corporate self-regulation more effective in bettering conditions in the developing world.

Regulation is often thought of as an activity that restricts behaviour and prevents the occurrence of certain undesirable activities, but the influence of regulation can also be enabling or facilitative, as when a market could potentially be chaotic if uncontrolled. This Handbook provides a clear and authoritative discussion of the major trends and issues in regulation over the last thirty years, together with an outline of prospective developments. It brings together contributions from leading scholars from a range of disciplines and countries. Each chapter offers a broad overview of key current issues and provides an analysis of different perspectives on those issues. Experiences in different jurisdictions and insights from various disciplines are drawn upon, and particular attention is paid to the challenges that are encountered when specific approaches are applied in practice. Contributors develop their own distinctive arguments relating to the central issues in regulation and apply scholarly rigour and clear writing to matters of high policy-relevance. The essays are original, accessible, and agenda-setting, and the Handbook will be essential reading both to students and researchers and to with regulatory and regulated professionals.

How has the regulation of business shifted from national to global institutions? What are the mechanisms of globalization? Who are the key actors? What of democratic sovereignty? In which cases has globalization been successfully resisted? These questions are confronted across an amazing sweep of the critical areas of business regulation--from contract, intellectual property and corporations law, to trade, telecommunications, labor standards, drugs, food, transport and environment. This book examines the role played by global institutions such as the World Trade Organization, World Health Organization, the OECD, IMF, Moodys and the World Bank, as well as various NGOs and significant individuals. Incorporating both history and analysis, Global Business Regulation will become the standard reference for readers in business, law, politics, and international relations.

This book transcends current debate on government regulation by lucidly outlining how regulations can be a fruitful combination of persuasion and sanctions. The regulation of business by the United States government is often ineffective despite being more adversarial in tone than in other nations. The authors draw on both empirical studies of regulation from around the world and modern game theory to illustrate innovative solutions to this problem. Their ideas include an argument for the empowerment of private and public interest groups in the regulatory process and a provocative discussion of how the government can support and encourage industry self-regulation.

Regulation by public and private organizations can be hijacked by special interests or small groups of powerful firms, and nowhere is this easier than at the global level. In whose interest is the global economy being regulated? Under what conditions can global regulation be made to serve broader interests? This is the first book to examine systematically how and why such hijacking or "regulatory capture" happens, and how it can be averted. Walter Mattli and Ngaire Woods bring together leading experts to present an analytical framework to explain regulatory outcomes at the global level and offer a series of case studies that illustrate the challenges of a global economy in which many institutions are less transparent and are held much less accountable by the media and public officials than are domestic institutions. They explain when and how global regulation falls prey to regulatory capture, yet also shed light on the positive regulatory changes that have occurred in areas including human rights, shipping safety, and global finance. This book is a wake-up call to proponents of network governance, self-regulation, and the view that technocrats should be left to regulate with as little oversight as possible. In addition to the editors, the contributors are Kenneth W. Abbott, Samuel Barrows, Judith L. Goldstein, Eric Helleiner, Miles Kahler, David A. Lake, Kathryn Sikkink, Duncan Snidal, Richard H. Steinberg, and David Vogel.

Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development in Emerging Economies is an anthology of seven case studies plus two theoretical chapters in a comparative context. It analyzes issues related to the rise of multinational corporations, their immense economic and political influence in a globalized world, and their social responsibility/corporate citizenship. Corporate social responsibility is closely examined in terms of meeting the challenges of the widening gap between rich and poor, relationships with sovereign states, environmental degradation, exploitation of natural resources, labor practices, and human rights issues in societies in which multinational corporations operate. Are these corporations exempt from social roles and accountable to only their shareholders (the minimalist position propounded by economists such as Milton Friedman ), or do they also have ethical and social responsibilities to participate in improving the quality of human lives in impoverished societies in Africa , Asia and Latin America?

Law can no longer be viewed through a purely national lens. Transnational legal ordering affects the boundary of the state and the market, the allocation of power among national institutions, the role of professions and their expertise, and associational patterns that provide new normative frames. This book breaks new ground for understanding the impacts of transnational legal ordering within nation-states in today's globalized world. The book addresses the different dimensions of state change at stake and the factors that determine these impacts. It brings together leading scholars from sociology and law who study the effects of transnational legal ordering within different countries. Their case studies illustrate how transnational legal ordering interacts with national law and institutions in different regulatory areas, and cover anti-money laundering, bankruptcy, competition, education, intellectual property, health, and municipal water law and policy in different countries. The book explains the extent and limits of transnational legal ordering in today's world.