Introduction

This chapter focuses on global processes of re-regulation and democratization. First, the argument in the chapter is that soft regulation is becoming increasingly important in regional and global governance and that the use of soft regulation opens up for a broad spectrum of actors in regional and global regulation processes. Indeed, state actors must share legislative power and authority with international organizations on the one hand, and with multinational companies and representatives of civil society, on the other (Boli and Thomas 1999; Hall and Biersteker 2002; Knill and Lehmkuhl 2002). Democratic discussions co-evolve with this global re-regulation. Democracy is pursued and professed, but also challenged by expanding schemes of soft regulations.

My interest in these intertwined regulative and democratic developments is normative. In what ways does soft regulation challenge our traditional understanding of representative and liberal democracy, based on a clear division between the public and private sphere? Can private actors be held accountable for the decisions they take? Perhaps we should instead see private actors' participation in the decision-making process as part of a more deliberative understanding of democracy? It might be argued that a re-defined democracy is developing with globalization and re-regulation. The importance of soft regulation in regional and global governance raises fundamental questions about which democratic principles and standards we should emphasize – accountability or deliberation.