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10 - Private authority as global governance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 September 2009

Thomas J. Biersteker
Affiliation:
Director of the Thomas J. Watson Institute for International Studies and the Professor of Transnational Organizations Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
Rodney Bruce Hall
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor of International Relations in the Department of Political Science University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
Thomas J. Biersteker
Affiliation:
Brown University, Rhode Island
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Summary

Private locations of authority have begun to influence a growing number of issues in our contemporary world. Authoritative private actors are not only important players in the international political economy; they are increasingly beginning to play a critical role in the governance of other important spheres of social and political life. They are engaged in the establishment of standards, the provision of social welfare, the enforcement of contracts, and the maintenance of security. The essays in this volume illustrate well the extent of the phenomenon, its complex character, the controversies surrounding its definition, and some of its implications. While the very meanings of the “private,” of “authority,” and of “private authority” themselves remain controversial, we think we have made some important progress in our understanding of these phenomena.

Rather than define the realm of the private in an abstract, theoretical sense, most of the contributors to this volume define the private sector in terms of what it is not. For Claire Cutler, private actors are increasingly engaged in authoritative decision-making that was previously the prerogative of sovereign states, while for Saskia Sassen the domain of the private is taking over functions once enclosed in national legal frameworks. Ronnie Lipschutz and Cathleen Fogel differentiate the private sector from the public, while Mark Juergensmeyer locates it in opposition to the government. Thus, whether it is differentiated from the sovereign state, the government, the national legal framework, or the public sector, the private sector is typically defined in terms of some residual of the national state.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2002

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  • Private authority as global governance
    • By Thomas J. Biersteker, Director of the Thomas J. Watson Institute for International Studies and the Professor of Transnational Organizations Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, Rodney Bruce Hall, Assistant Professor of International Relations in the Department of Political Science University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
  • Edited by Rodney Bruce Hall, Thomas J. Biersteker, Brown University, Rhode Island
  • Book: The Emergence of Private Authority in Global Governance
  • Online publication: 22 September 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511491238.011
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  • Private authority as global governance
    • By Thomas J. Biersteker, Director of the Thomas J. Watson Institute for International Studies and the Professor of Transnational Organizations Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, Rodney Bruce Hall, Assistant Professor of International Relations in the Department of Political Science University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
  • Edited by Rodney Bruce Hall, Thomas J. Biersteker, Brown University, Rhode Island
  • Book: The Emergence of Private Authority in Global Governance
  • Online publication: 22 September 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511491238.011
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Private authority as global governance
    • By Thomas J. Biersteker, Director of the Thomas J. Watson Institute for International Studies and the Professor of Transnational Organizations Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, Rodney Bruce Hall, Assistant Professor of International Relations in the Department of Political Science University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
  • Edited by Rodney Bruce Hall, Thomas J. Biersteker, Brown University, Rhode Island
  • Book: The Emergence of Private Authority in Global Governance
  • Online publication: 22 September 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511491238.011
Available formats
×