Responsible Business: Self-Governance and Law in Transnational Economic Transactions (Onati International Series in Law and Society) [Paperback]

Olaf Dilling (Editor), Martin Herberg (Editor), Gerd Winter (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1841137804 | ISBN-13: 978-1841137803 | Publication Date: July 1, 2008

With the globalization of markets, the phenomenon of market failure has also been globalized. Against the backdrop of the territoriality of nation-state jurisdictions and the slow progress of international law based on the principle of sovereignty, this poses a serious challenge. However, while the legal infrastructure of globalized markets has a firm basis in formal, national, and international law, the side effects of economic transactions on public goods, such as the environment, human health, and consumer interests often escape state-based regulation. Therefore, attention is drawn to the potential of self-regulation by transnational industry. While hypotheses abound which try to grasp this phenomenon in conceptual terms, both empirical and legal research is still underdeveloped. Responsible Business helps to fill this gap in two ways. First, the book recontructs self-regulatory settings — such as multinational corporations, transnational production networks, and industry-NGO partnerships — in terms of organization, problem-solving, and legitimation. Secondly, it links their empirical findings to formal law by examining how legal concepts are reflected in self-regulation, how the law builds on self-regulatory solutions, and how it helps to establish favorable conditions for private governance. The essays in this volume are well-grounded and will be important to those interested in the sociological aspects of company and insolvency law.

Editorial Reviews

Review

...a timely, thought-provoking collection that covers a diverse range of topical and problematic subject areas. The editors and authors clearly believe that official and private regulation can work in tandem, enhancing the overall impact of the regulatory aims and present compelling empirical and theoretical evidence to support this belief. It would be an excellent addition to any library seeking to expand not just its regulation and governance titles, but also its international economic, environmental and socio-legal titles.Fiona MarshallThe Law and Politics Book ReviewVol 19 No 3, March 2009...a range of fascinating theoretical,doctrinal and empirical insights into the nature of the self-regulatory settings for multinational corporations and transnational economic networks, as well conceptualising the legal significance of self-regulatory arrangements and the conditions under which private governance may flourish...highly recommended to environmental law students, scholars and policy-makers seeking a more sophisticated understanding of the complex and dynamic shifts in national and transnational governance that have increasingly diluted (but certainly not rendered irrelevant) the role of the state and its formal law-making processes. The wealth of case studies and meticulous empirical evidence, combined with high theory, make for a very plausible analysis of one of the most significant trends in environmental and economic governance...a worthwhile addition to nearly any environmental law library.Benjamin J RichardsonJournal of Environmental LawVol 21, No 1, 2009The text leaves the reader with a well-balanced and structured approach to how businesses should govern themselves and act responsibly in the marketplace; the case studies act as a useful practical tool to reason the law against; and the text is a must-read for any academic or postgraduate student interested in how businesses operate and how to act reponsibly in the marketplace in order to avoid market failure.Andrew James Perkins, (Gray's Inn), Swansea UniversityInternational Trade Law and RegulationVolume 15, Issue 5 (2009)Interdisciplinary in its inception and empirical in its approach, the volume draws primarily from sociology, law, and political science to provide a through-provoking and optimistic story about the emergent potential for self-governance and private ordering to produce systems of rules and norms that increasinglyand explicitlyregulate public goods, in the public interest. The book's value is its explicitly interdisciplinary focus on empirical and legal accounts, attempting to ground governance theory in specific examples. As such, it should have wide appeal.Laura SpitzLaw and Society ReviewVolume 44, Issue 2

About the Author

Olaf Dilling is a trained lawyer and currently a research associate at the Collaborative Research Center 'Transformations of the State' at Bremen University.Martin Herberg is senior research fellow at the Collaborative Research Center 'Transformations of the State', Bremen University. He is a trained sociologist.Gerd Winter is Professor of Public Law and the Sociology of Law at the University of Bremen Department of Law. He directs the Research Center for European Environmental Law as well as a section of the Collaborative Research Center 'Transformations of the State' at the same university.

Product Details

• Paperback: 369 pages
• Publisher: Hart Publishing (July 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1841137804
• ISBN-13: 978-1841137803
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,289,875 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)