Part III Forms of Organization, Ch.8 Private Transnational Governance

Subject(s):

Collective security — Attribution to international organizations — Membership of international organizations — International organizations, practice and procedure — Resolutions of international organizations

This chapter discusses the key drivers and risks of private transnational governance. It shows that private governance rarely seems to stay purely private. When it fails to consider wider societal interests and concerns, private governance will draw unwanted attention from governments, potentially leading to oversight and regulation or public-private partnerships — what is referred to as ‘joint or hybrid’ governance. A trend towards hybrid governance appears to be detectable both in the cases of privatization of global regulation and the rise of transnational private justice. In the former case, states have taken steps to improve procedural transparency and broaden the range of partners involved in transnational rule-making. In the latter case, the constitutionalization of international arbitration governance promises to integrate and safeguard fundamental public policy norms in private judicial processes. Future research on global governance will have to carefully examine the significance and effectiveness of ‘joint or hybrid’ governance.