Analysis and case studies of emerging forms of private, public, and
hybrid social and environmental governance.
The effects of globalization on governance are complex and uncertain. As
markets integrate, governments have become increasingly hesitant to
enforce regulations inside their own jurisdictions. At the same time,
multilateralism has proven unsuccessful in coordinating states'
responses to global challenges. In this book, Lena Partzsch describes
alternatives to multilateralism, offering analyses and case studies of
emerging--alternative--forms of private, public, and hybrid social and
environmental regulation. In doing so, she offers a unique overview of
cutting-edge approaches to global governance.
After laying the theoretical and empirical foundation of her argument,
Partzsch presents three case studies from the countries most affected by
these new forms of governance. Drawing on primary documents, interviews,
and participatory observations, she analyzes cotton supply chains and
voluntary (private) cotton certification in Ethiopia; public
supply-chain regulation of "conflict resources" from the Democratic
Republic of the Congo; and hybrid governance of palm oil production in
Indonesia. Partzsch finds that the new entanglement of public and
private regulation fails to address social and environmental
considerations in mainstream markets; argues that only in exceptional
cases do alternative forms of regulation overcome the power asymmetries
between actors in the consuming countries of the Global North and those
in the producing countries of the Global South; and concludes that,
while the paradigm of free trade fades, we must continue to develop
viable alternatives in order to pursue collective norms of environmental
sustainability and social justice.
