The Role Of Business in Global Governance offers a theoretically
innovative and empirically rich analysis of the new political role of corporations in the
co-performance of governance functions beyond the state.
It takes stock of the different types of private contributions to transnational
governance as an expression of the new interplay between the state, the business sector
and civil society. It provides an understanding, grounded in theory, of the
potential and the limits of private self-regulatory arrangements as components of future
global governance architecture. It investigates under what conditions which kinds of
private contributions to governance beyond the state can be expected; and offers a
comprehensive evaluation of the effectiveness and legitimacy potential of private
contributions to global governance. By conceptualizing the role change of business actors
as corporate norm-entrepreneurship and employing a comprehensive set of criteria for its
evaluation, this book goes much further than other studies in the field.
KLAUS DIETER WOLF holds the Chair for International Relations at
Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany. He is also the Deputy Director of the Peace
Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF) and Principal Investigator of the Cluster of
Excellence 'Formation of Normative Orders'.
ANNEGRET FLOHR is a Research Associate in International Relations at
Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany.
LOTHAR RIETH is a Research Associate in the Department of Political
Science at Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany.
SANDRA SCHWINDENHAMMER is a Research Associate in the Department of
International Politics at FernUniversität in Hagen, Germany.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Foreword and Acknowledgements
Notes on the Authors
List of Abbreviations
PART I: THE RESEARCH CONTEXT
Introduction: Corporate Norm-entrepreneurship and Global Governance
Basic Concepts and Assumptions
PART II: CAUSES OF CORPORATE NORM-ENTREPRENEURSHIP
The Social and Political Environment
Actor Characteristics
Institutional Arrangements
Comparisons for Conclusions: Different Paths to Corporate Norm-entrepreneurship
PART III: EVALUATING CORPORATE NORM-ENTREPRENEURSHIP
The Effectiveness of Transnational Private Governance
The Legitimacy Potential of Transnational Private Governance
Towards a New Institutional Architecture for Global Governance: the Political Role of the
Private Sector
Bibliography
Index
304 pages, Hardcover