Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-45l2p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T15:51:14.968Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

4 - Transnational Institutions and Networks

from Part I - The Building Blocks

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 April 2020

Frank Biermann
Affiliation:
Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands
Rakhyun E. Kim
Affiliation:
Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands
Get access

Summary

This chapter reviews the literature on transnational institutions and networks in earth system governance research over the past decade. The chapter focuses in particular on the issues of emergence, effectiveness and legitimacy of transnational governance and outlines key debates and controversies surrounding the shifting authority between public and private actors. The chapter also identifies major research lines and open questions and provides an outlook towards the most promising directions in future research. The review is based on 215 articles identified in the Web of Science (co)authored by fellows of the Earth System Governance Project from 2008 to 2018.

Type
Chapter
Information
Architectures of Earth System Governance
Institutional Complexity and Structural Transformation
, pp. 75 - 96
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abbott, K. W. (2014). Strengthening the transnational regime complex for climate change. Transnational Environmental Law, 3 (1), 5788.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Abbott, K. W., Green, J. F., & Keohane, R. O. (2016). Organizational ecology and institutional change in Global Governance. International Organization, 70 (2), 247–77.Google Scholar
Abbott, K. W., & Snidal, D. (2009). Strengthening international regulation through transnational new governance: Overcoming the orchestration deficit. Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, 42 (2), 501–78.Google Scholar
Andonova, L. B., & Hoffmann, M. J. (2012). From Rio to Rio and beyond: Innovation in global environmental governance. The Journal of Environment and Development, 21 (1), 5761.Google Scholar
Andonova, L. B., & Levy, M. A. (2003). Franchising global governance: Making sense of the Johannesburg Type Two partnerships. In Stokke, O. S., & Thommessen, Ø. B. (eds.), Yearbook of international cooperation on environment and development (pp. 1931). London: Earthscan Publications.Google Scholar
Auld, G., & Gulbrandsen, L. (2010). Transparency in nonstate certification: Consequences for accountability and legitimacy. Global Environmental Politics, 10 (3), 97119.Google Scholar
Auld, G., Renckens, S., & Cashore, B. (2015). Transnational private governance between the logics of empowerment and control. Regulation and Governance, 9 (2), 108–24.Google Scholar
Bansard, J., Pattberg, P., & Widerberg, O. (2017). Cities to the rescue? Assessing the performance of transnational municipal networks in global climate governance. International Environmental Agreements, 17 (2), 229–46.Google Scholar
Bäckstrand, K. (2008). Accountability of networked climate governance: The rise of transnational climate partnerships. Global Environmental Politics, 8 (3), 74102.Google Scholar
Bartley, T. (2007). Institutional emergence in an era of globalization: The rise of transnational private regulation of labor and environmental conditions. American Journal of Sociology, 113 (2), 297.Google Scholar
Bartley, T. (2018). Rules without rights: Land, labor, and private authority in the global economy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernstein, S., & Cashore, B. (2012). Complex global governance and domestic policies: Four pathways of influence. International Affairs, 88 (3), 585604.Google Scholar
Betsill, M. M., & Corell, E. (eds.) (2008). NGO diplomacy. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Betsill, M. M., Dubash, N., Paterson, M., van Asselt, H., Vihma, A., & Winkler, H. (2015). Building productive links between the UNFCCC and the broader global climate governance landscape. Global Environmental Politics, 15 (2), 110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biermann, F., Kanie, N., & Kim, R. E. (2017). Global governance by goal-setting: The novel approach of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 2627, 2631.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biermann, F., & Gupta, A. (2011). Accountability and legitimacy in earth system governance: A research framework. Ecological Economics, 70, 1856–64.Google Scholar
Biermann, F., Betsill, M. M., Gupta, J. et al. (2010). Earth system governance: A research framework. International Environmental Agreements, 10 (4), 277–98.Google Scholar
Biermann, F., Pattberg, P., van Asselt, H., & Zelli, F. (2009). The fragmentation of global governance architectures: A framework for analysis. Global Environmental Politics, 9 (4), 1440.Google Scholar
Bingen, J., & Busch, L. (eds.) (2006). Agricultural standards: The shape of the global food and fiber system. New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Blok, K., Höhne, N., van der Leun, K., & Harrison, N. (2012). Bridging the greenhouse-gas emissions gap. Nature Climate Change, 2 (7), 471–4.Google Scholar
Börzel, T., & Risse, T. (2005). Public–private partnerships: Effective and legitimate tools of transnational governance? In Grande, E, & Pauly, L. W. (eds.), Complex sovereignty: Reconstituting political authority in the twenty-first century (pp. 195206). Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Breitmeier, H., Underdal, A., & Young, O. R. (2011). The effectiveness of international environmental regimes: Comparing and contrasting findings from quantitative research. International Studies Review, 13 (4), 579605.Google Scholar
Bulkeley, H. A., & Betsill, M. M. (2013). Revisiting the urban politics of climate change. Environmental Politics, 22 (1), 136–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bulkeley, H. A., & Betsill, M. M. (2004). Transnational networks and global environmental governance: The cities for climate protection program. International Studies Quarterly, 48 (2), 471–93.Google Scholar
Bulkeley, H., Andonova, L. B., Betsill, M. M. et al. (2014). Transnational climate change governance. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burch, S., Gupta, A., Inoue, C. Y. A. et al. (2019). New directions in earth system governance research. Earth System Governance, 1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cashore, B. W. (2016). Cross-sector partnerships for NSMD global governance: Change pathways and strategic implications. Annual Review of Social Partnerships, 11, 8892.Google Scholar
Cashore, B. W., Auld, G., & Newsom., D. (2004). Governing through markets: Forest certification and the emergence of non-state authority. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Chan, S., Falkner, R., Goldberg, M., & van Asselt, H. (2016). Effective and geographically balanced? An output-based assessment of non-state climate actions. Climate Policy, 18 (1), 2435.Google Scholar
Chan, S., & Pattberg, P. (2008). Private rule-making and the politics of accountability: Analyzing global forest governance. Global Environmental Politics, 8 (3), 103–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chan, S., van Asselt, H., Hale, T. N. et al. (2015). Reinvigorating international climate policy: A comprehensive framework for effective nonstate action. Global Policy, 6 (4), 466–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cole, N. H. (2015). Advantages of a polycentric approach to climate change policy. Nature Climate Change, 5, 114–18.Google Scholar
Davies, T., & Chandler, R. (2012). Online deliberation design: Choices, criteria, and evidence. In Nabatchi, T, Weiksner, M, Gastil, J, & Leighninger, M (eds.), Democracy in motion: Evaluating the practice and impact of deliberative civic engagement (pp. 103–34). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Dingwerth, K. (2007). The new transnationalism: Transnational governance and democratic legitimacy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dingwerth, K., & Eichinger, M. (2010). Tamed transparency: How information disclosure under the global reporting initiative fails to empower. Global Environmental Politics, 10 (3), 7496.Google Scholar
Dingwerth, K., & Pattberg, P. (2009). World politics and organizational fields: The Case of transnational sustainability governance. European Journal of International Relations, 15 (4), 707–43.Google Scholar
Dryzek, J. S. (2012). Global civil society: The progress of post-Westphalian politics. Annual Review Political Science, 15, 101–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dryzek, J. S., & Pickering, J. (2017). Deliberation as a catalyst for reflexive environmental governance. Ecological Economics, 131, 353–60.Google Scholar
Earth System Governance (2018). Earth system governance: Science and implementation plan of the Earth System Governance Project. Utrecht: Earth System Governance Project.Google Scholar
Easton, D. (1957). An approach to the analysis of political systems. World Politics, 9 (3), 383400.Google Scholar
Eberlein, B., Abbott, K. W., Black, J., Meidinger, E., & Wood, S. (2014). Transnational business governance interactions: Conceptualization and framework for analysis. Regulation and Governance, 8 (1), 121.Google Scholar
Falkner, R. (2003). Private environmental governance and international relations: Exploring the links. Global Environmental Politics, 3 (2), 7287.Google Scholar
Fuchs, D. (2007). Business power in global governance. London: Lynne Rienner Publishers.Google Scholar
Fuchs, D., & Kalfagianni, A. (2010). The causes and consequences of private food governance. Business and Politics, 12 (3), 145–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fuchs, D., Kalfagianni, A., & Havinga, T. (2011). Actors in private food governance: The legitimacy of retail standards and multistakeholder initiatives with civil society participation. Agriculture and Human Values, 28 (3), 353–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gellers, C. J. (2016). Crowdsourcing global governance: Sustainable Development Goals, civil society and the pursuit of democratic legitimacy. International Environmental Agreements, 16, 415–32.Google Scholar
Green, J. F. (2013). Rethinking private authority: Agents and entrepreneurs in global environmental governance. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Green, J. F., & Auld, G. (2017). Unbudling the regime complex: The effects of private authority. Transnational Environmental Law, 6 (2), 259–84.Google Scholar
Greven, T. (2004). Private, Staatliche und Uberstaatliche Interventionen zur Verankerung von Arbeitnehmerrechten. In Bass, H, & Melchers, S (eds.), Neue Instrumente zur Sozialen und Ökologischen Gestaltung der Globalisierung: Codes of Conduct, Sozialklauseln, nachhaltige Investmentfonds (pp. 139371). Münster: LIT Verlag.Google Scholar
Gulbrandsen, L. H. (2014). Dynamic governance interactions: Evolutionary effects of state responses to non-state certification programs. Regulation and Governance, 8 (1), 7492.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gupta, A. (2008). Transparency under scrutiny: Information disclosure in global environmental governance. Global Environmental Politics, 8 (2), 17.Google Scholar
Gupta, A. (2010). Transparency as contested political terrain: Who knows what about the global GMO trade and why does it matter? Global Environmental Politics, 10 (3), 3252.Google Scholar
Hachez, N., & Wouters, J. (2011). A glimpse at the democratic legitimacy of private standards: Assessing the public accountability of global G. A. P. Journal of International Economic Law, 14 (3), 677710.Google Scholar
Haufler, V. (2003). Globalization and industry self regulation. In Kahler, M, & Lake, D. A. (eds.), Governance in a global economy: Political authority in transition (pp. 226–52). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Haufler, V. (2010). Disclosure as governance: The extractive industries transparency initiative and resource management in the developing world. Global Environmental Politics, 10 (3), 5373.Google Scholar
Hale, T. N. (2016). ‘All hands on deck’: The Paris Agreement and nonstate climate action. Global Environmental Politics, 16 (3), 1222.Google Scholar
Hale, T. N., & Held, D. (2011). Handbook of transnational governance. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Hickmann, T. (2017a). The reconfiguration of authority in global climate governance. International Studies Review, 19 (3), 430–51.Google Scholar
Hickmann, T. (2017b). Voluntary global business initiatives and the international climate negotiations: A case study of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. Journal of Cleaner Production, 169, 94104.Google Scholar
Hickmann, T., Widerberg, O., Lederer, M., & Pattberg, P. (2019). The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Secretariat as an orchestrator in global climate policymaking. International Review of Administrative Sciences, in press.Google Scholar
Hilson, G. (2014). ‘Constructing’ ethical mineral supply chains in Sub-Saharan Africa: The case of Malawian fair trade rubies. Development and Change, 45 (1), 5378.Google Scholar
Hoffmann, M. J. (2011). Climate governance at the crossroads: Experimenting with a global response after Kyoto. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Holzinger, K., & Sommerer, T. (2011). ‘Race to the bottom’ or ‘race to Brussels’? Environmental competition in Europe. Journal of Common Market Studies, 49 (2), 315–39.Google Scholar
Hsu, A., Cheng, Y., Weinfurter, A., Xu, K., & Yick, C. (2016). Track climate pledges of cities and companies. Nature, 532 (7599), 303.Google Scholar
Jordan, A. J., & Huitema, D. (2014). Innovations in climate policy: The politics of invention, diffusion, and evaluation. Environmental Politics, 23 (5), 715–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jordan, A. J., Huitema, D., Hildén, M. et al. (2015). Emergence of polycentric climate governance and its future prospects. Nature Climate Change, (5), 977–82.Google Scholar
Kalfagianni, A. (2015). ‘Just Food’: The normative obligations of private agrifood governance. Global Environmental Change, 31, 174–86.Google Scholar
Kalfagianni, A., & Pattberg, P. (2013). Fishing in muddy waters: Exploring the conditions for effective governance of fisheries and aquaculture. Marine Policy, 38, 124–32.Google Scholar
Kalfagianni, A., & Roche, T. (2017). Domestic policy responses to transnational private governance: The Marine Stewardship Council in Alaska, Australia and Ecuador. In Havinga, T, & Verbruggen, P (eds.), The hybridisation of food governance (pp. 240–71). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Kanie, N., & Biermann, F. (eds.) (2017). Governing through goals: Sustainable Development Goals as governance innovation. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Kaan, C., & Liese, A. (2011). Public private partnerships in global food governance: Business engagement and legitimacy in the global fight against hunger and malnutrition. Agriculture and Human Values, 28 (3), 385–99.Google Scholar
Kaul, I. (2006). Exploring the policy space between markets and states: Global public private partnerships. Boulder: Lynne Rienner.Google Scholar
Kleinschmit, D. (2015). Internationale Waldpolitik – Prinzip Freiwilligkeit. In Leitschuh, H, Michelsen, G, Simonis, U. E., Sommer, J, & Von Weizsäcker, E. U. (eds.), Jahrbuch Ökologie 2016 (pp. 82–7). Stuttgart: Hirzel.Google Scholar
Kleinschmit, D., Secco, L., Sergent, A., Wallin, I., & Pülzl, H. (2018). Orchestrating forest policy making: Involvement of scientists and stakeholders in political processes. Forest Policy and Economics, 89, 1106.Google Scholar
Koenig-Archibugi, M., & Macdonald, K. (2013). Accountability‐by‐proxy in transnational non‐state governance. Governance, 23 (3), 499522.Google Scholar
Kramarz, T. (2016). World Bank partnerships and the promise of democratic governance. Environmental Policy and Governance, 26, 315.Google Scholar
Kramarz, T., & Park, S. (2016). Accountability in global environmental governance: A meaningful tool for action? Global Environmental Politics, 16 (2), 121.Google Scholar
Kronsell, A. (2013). Legitimacy for climate policy: Politics and participation in the green city of Freiburg. Local Environment, 18 (8), 965–82.Google Scholar
Kuyper, J. W. (2014). Global democratization and international regime complexity. European Journal of International Relations, 20 (3), 620–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuyper, J. W., Linnér, B. O., & Schroeder, H. (2018). Non‐state actors in hybrid global climate governance: Justice, Legitimacy, and Effectiveness in a Post‐Paris Era. Climate Change, 9 (1), e497.Google Scholar
Mert, A. (2009). Partnerships for sustainable development as discursive practice: Shifts in discourses of environment and democracy. Forest Policy and Economics, 11 (5–6), 326–39.Google Scholar
McDermott, C. L., Irland, L. C., & Pacheco, P. (2015). Forest certification and legality initiatives in the Brazilian Amazon: Lessons for effective and equitable forest governance. Forest Policy and Economics, 50, 134–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miles, E. L., Underdal, A., Andresen, S., Wettestad, J., Skjærseth, J. B., & Carlin, E. M. (2001). Environmental regime effectiveness: Confronting theory with evidence. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nygren, A. (2015). Governance and images: Representations of certified southern producers in high-quality design markets. Environmental Values, 24 (3), 391412.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orsini, A., Morin, J. F., & Young, O. R. (2013). Regime complexes: A buzz, a boom, or a boost for global governance? Global Governance, 19 (1), 2739.Google Scholar
O’Rourke, D. (2003). Outsourcing regulation: Analyzing nongovernmental systems of labor standards and monitoring. The Policy Studies Journal, 31 (1), 119.Google Scholar
Ostrom, E. (2010). Polycentric systems for coping with collective action and global environmental change. Global Environmental Change, 20 (4), 550–7.Google Scholar
Partzsch, L. (2007). Global Governance in Partnerschaft: Die EU-Initiative ‘Water for Life’. Baden-Baden: Nomos.Google Scholar
Partzsch, L. (2014). Die neue Macht von Individuen in der globalen Politik: Wandel durch Prominente, Philanthropen und social entrepreneurs. Baden-Baden: Nomos.Google Scholar
Partzsch, L. (2017). Powerful individuals in a globalized world. Global Policy, 8 (1), 513.Google Scholar
Partzsch, L. (2018). Take action now: The legitimacy of celebrity power in international relations. Global Governance, 24 (2), 229–48.Google Scholar
Pattberg, P. (2010). Public–private partnerships in global climate governance. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews, Climate Change, 1 (2), 279–87.Google Scholar
Pattberg, P., Betsill, M. M., & Dellas, E. (eds.) (2011). Agency in earth system governance. International Environmental Agreements, 11 (1), 8598.Google Scholar
Pattberg, P., Biermann, F., Chan, S., & Mert, A. (2012). Public–private partnerships for sustainable development: Emergence, influence and legitimacy. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Pattberg, P., & Widerberg, O. (2016). Transnational multi-stakeholder partnerships for sustainable development: Conditions for success. AMBIO, 45 (1), 4251.Google Scholar
Ponte, S., & Daugbjerg, C. (2015). Biofuel sustainability and the formation of transnational hybrid governance. Environmental Politics, 24 (1), 96114.Google Scholar
Porter, T., & Ronit, K. (eds.) (2010). The challenges of global business authority: Democratic renewal, stalemate or decay? New York: SUNY Press.Google Scholar
Quark, A. (2013). Global rivalries: Standards wars and the transnational cotton trade. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Raustiala, K., & Victor, D. G. (2004). The regime complex for plant genetic resources. International Organization, 58 (2), 277309.Google Scholar
Risse, T. (2002). Transnational actors and world politics. In Carlsnaes, W, Risse, T, & Simmons, B (eds.), Handbook of international relations (pp. 255–74). London: SAGE Publications.Google Scholar
Ruggie, J. (2013). Just business: Multinational corporations and human rights. New York: W. W. Norton and Company.Google Scholar
Sarfaty, G. A. (2015). Shining light on global supply chains. Harvard International Law Journal, 56 (2), 419–63.Google Scholar
Scharpf, F. W. (1997). Games real actors play: Actor-centered institutionalism in policy research. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Schlosberg, D., & Collins, L. B. (2014). From environmental to climate justice: climate change and the discourse of environmental justice. WIREs Climate Change, 5 (3), 359–74.Google Scholar
Scholte, J. A. (2008). Defining globalisation. The World Economy, 31 (11), 14711502.Google Scholar
Scott, W. R. (1995). Institutions and organizations. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Sénit, C. A., Biermann, F., & Kalfagianni, A. (2017). The representativeness of global deliberation: A critical assessment of civil society consultations in the shaping of Sustainable Development Goals. Global Policy, 8 (1), 6272.Google Scholar
Sénit, C. A., Kalfagianni, A., & Biermann, F. (2016). Cyber-democracy? Information and communication technologies in civil society consultations for sustainable development. Global Governance, 22 (4), 533–54.Google Scholar
Stevenson, H. (2014). Representing green radicalism: The limits of state-based representation in global climate governance. Review of International Studies, 40, 177201.Google Scholar
Szulecki, K., Pattberg, P., & Biermann, F. (2011). Explaining variation in the effectiveness of transnational energy partnerships. Governance, 24 (4), 713–36.Google Scholar
Tucker, K. (2014). Participation and subjectification in global governance: NGOs, acceptable subjectivities and the WTO. Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 42 (2), 376–96.Google Scholar
UNEP (2012). Global environmental outlook 5: Summary for policy makers. Nairobi: United Nations Environment Programme.Google Scholar
UNEP (2015). The emissions gap report 2015: Executive Summary. Nairobi: United Nations Environment Programme.Google Scholar
UNEP (2019). Global environment outlook 6: Healthy planet, healthy people. Nairobi: United Nations Environment Programme.Google Scholar
Van der Ven, H., Bernstein, S., & Hoffmann, M. (2016). Valuing the contributions of nonstate and subnational actors to climate governance. Global Environmental Politics, 17 (1), 120.Google Scholar
Washington, S., & Ababouch, L. (2011). Private standards and certification in fisheries and aquaculture: Current practice and emerging issues. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.Google Scholar
Whitfield, D. (2001). Public services or corporate welfare: Rethinking the nation state in the global economy. London: Pluto Press.Google Scholar
Widerberg, O. (2016). Mapping institutional complexity in the Anthropocene: A network approach. In Pattberg, P, & Zelli, F (eds.), Environmental politics and governance in the Anthropocene: Institutions and legitimacy in a complex world (pp. 81102). London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Widerberg, O. (2017). The ‘black box’ problem of orchestration: How to evaluate the performance of the Lima-Paris Action Agenda. Environmental Politics, 26 (4): 123.Google Scholar
Widerberg, O. and Pattberg, P. (2017). Accountability challenges in the transnational regime complex for climate change. Review of Policy Research, 34 (1), 6887.Google Scholar
World Commission on Environment and Development (1987). Our common future. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Young, O. R. (2011). Effectiveness of international environmental regimes: Existing knowledge, cutting-edge themes, and research strategies. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108 (50), 19853–60.Google Scholar
Zelli, F., & van Asselt, H. (eds.) (2013). The institutional fragmentation of global environmental governance: Causes, consequences and responses. Global Environmental Politics, 13 (3), 113.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

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 Dropbox.

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.

Available formats
×