Over the past two decades, transnational private standards such as “dolphin-safe,” “fair-trade,” and “sustainably produced timber,” have become ubiquitous. The regulatory landscape of many issue areas includes a mix of these private standards and government regulation. This is puzzling as firms adopting these standards voluntarily commit to exceeding government regulation, yet may not recoup the additional costs related to production changes and certification of their processes. To understand why firms adopt transnational private standards and how these standards affect government policies, this dissertation examines how the adoption of sustainable forestry standards changed the regulatory dynamics between firms and governments between 1997 and 2016. The dissertation consists of three analyses of the interaction between standards’ adoption and government regulation. The first study quantitatively evaluates forest sector policies in 38 countries, and demonstrates that whether industries use their adoption of transnational private standards to gain competitive advantages over foreign rivals, or alternatively, to avert further government regulation depends on market conditions and the willingness of consumers to pay a premium for certification. The second study investigates the extent to which to which governments in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom have included transnational private standards in regulation to provide producers in import-competing industries competitive benefits over foreign producers. It establishes that in most cases, governments calibrated forest sector policies to increase trade benefits in response to the trade orientation of sectors and their level of transnational private standards adoption. The third study examines lobbying across industries and finds that industries adopted lobbying strategies on different forest sector policies based on whether those policies would improve their competitiveness and the extent to which to which they believed they could influence government policy. In aggregate, these studies demonstrate that governments of more-developed countries incorporated transnational private standards into their forest sector policies to the extent that doing so would provide economic benefits to their industries, and that they did so due to corporate lobbying. / 10000-01-01

We are witnessing a time of unprecedented human impact on the natural environment. Coral reefs, one of the most biologically diverse and productive ecosystems, are at the forefront of enduring these human impacts. Despite widespread recognition of coral reef degradation, counter measures have not reached a scale to offset the threat. The magnitude of this and other environmental issues call for a deeper understanding of the role the private sector can play in sustainable development. In response to environmental pressures and the shortcomings of global-scale governance, private sustainability governance initiatives have developed. In the last decade, these initiatives have flourished, resulting in a diversity of formats including third-party certification, consumer product transparency systems, and industry roundtables. In many industries, these programs compete to define the transformation and evolution of sustainability governance in an industry. This dissertation draws on a case study of the marine cultured-pearl industry to highlight the early adoption dynamics of private sustainability governance initiatives. The marine cultured-pearl industry provides an illuminating case study for the adoption of private governance, based on the potential strength of the positive environmental impact and farm presence in ecologically vulnerable coral reef areas. Yet despite these strengths, no formal sustainability initiatives have developed. This research project explores the early adoption of private governance initiatives through a mixed-methodological, case-study approach. The first study, a quantitative survey of US jewelry consumers, examines the impacts of environmental messages on perceptions of luxury value. The second study assesses the effect of networked legitimacy on producer perceptions in private governance initiatives. The final study investigates the impact of value chain structure on competing private governance initiatives. The research results provide evidence of a strong business case for the development of industry-wide sustainability initiatives and highlights distinctions between the rival private governance initiatives. The US jewelry consumer research shows that consumer messages featuring sustainability standards to protect coral reefs outperform third-party certification on luxury attributes. The marine cultured-pearl producer research highlights the legitimacy advantages of consumer product transparency when compared to third-party certifications. The value chain research indicates that, when compared to third-party certifications, consumer product transparency systems have characteristics that provide an advantage in addressing producer upgrading opportunities. Results from each of the three studies highlight the potential advantages of consumer product transparency systems over third-party certification initiatives in this and other settings. These results helped inform participatory action research to assess alternative pathways for private sustainability governance.

O objetivo central desta pesquisa é contextualizar e debater a emergência de um novo mecanismo de governança das relações transnacionais: as regulações privadas. Por meio de uma ampla revisão bibliográfica, o trabalho se propõe, a princípio, a definir as principais abordagens teóricas e conceituais desenvolvidas pela literatura sobre o fenômeno, facilitando, assim a definição do objeto desta pesquisa. Posteriormente, serão apresentadas as principais respostas da literatura a questões relacionadas aos três principais momentos da consolidação de tais mecanismos: sua emergência, adesão por atores privados e resultados. Conforme verificado, nos três casos as duas grandes linhas explicativas apresentadas pela literatura relacionam-se (1) a abordagens baseadas em incentivos de mercado e (2) a abordagens político-culturais voltadas à análise do campo social em que as empresas atuam. Pretende-se assim, contextualizar, fornecer um amplo panorama teórico e determinar as principais variáveis explicativas para a análise da hipótese central deste trabalho de que mecanismos de regulação privada podem ser efetivos fornecedores de bens públicos. Tais variáveis serão, posteriormente, testadas pela parte empírica desta pesquisa. / The main objective of this research is to contextualize and debate the emergence of a new governance mechanism in the transnational relations: private regulations. Through a broad bibliographic review, this work intends, first, to define the most important theoretical and conceptual approaches developed by the literature, facilitating thus the the definition of the specificities of the research\'s object. Second, the main answers to questions regarding the three most crucial moments of private regulations mechanisms consolidation (emergency, adoption by private actors and results) will be presented. As observed in all three cases the two main explanatory approaches presented by the literature relate to (1) approaches based on market incentives, and (2) political-cultural approaches aimed at the analisis of the social field in which firms operate. Hence, the aim is to contextualize, provide a broad theoretical background and determine the main explanatory variables for the analysis of the central hypotheses of this study that both values and market incentives are crucial in the process of adopting private regulatory mechanisms and that such mechanisms can be effective providers of public goods. These hypotheses will then be tested by the empirical part of this research.

This eassy assesses the recent trend of transnational private governance by analyzing the multiple functions and impacts of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), one of the most representative institutions in global environmental governance. After clarifying the general context of global governance, civil society and the rise of transnational private certifying, this article compares different interactive processes between the FSC and the government. This article concludes different patterns of how the FSC interacts with a country. Moreover, by interviewing the enterprises in Taiwan, this article sums up how the FSC crosses over the nation borders and achieves transnational governance through private certification.

O objetivo central desta pesquisa é contextualizar e debater a emergência de um novo mecanismo de governança das relações transnacionais: as regulações privadas. Por meio de uma ampla revisão bibliográfica, o trabalho se propõe, a princípio, a definir as principais abordagens teóricas e conceituais desenvolvidas pela literatura sobre o fenômeno, facilitando, assim a definição do objeto desta pesquisa. Posteriormente, serão apresentadas as principais respostas da literatura a questões relacionadas aos três principais momentos da consolidação de tais mecanismos: sua emergência, adesão por atores privados e resultados. Conforme verificado, nos três casos as duas grandes linhas explicativas apresentadas pela literatura relacionam-se (1) a abordagens baseadas em incentivos de mercado e (2) a abordagens político-culturais voltadas à análise do campo social em que as empresas atuam. Pretende-se assim, contextualizar, fornecer um amplo panorama teórico e determinar as principais variáveis explicativas para a análise da hipótese central deste trabalho de que mecanismos de regulação privada podem ser efetivos fornecedores de bens públicos. Tais variáveis serão, posteriormente, testadas pela parte empírica desta pesquisa. / The main objective of this research is to contextualize and debate the emergence of a new governance mechanism in the transnational relations: private regulations. Through a broad bibliographic review, this work intends, first, to define the most important theoretical and conceptual approaches developed by the literature, facilitating thus the the definition of the specificities of the research\'s object. Second, the main answers to questions regarding the three most crucial moments of private regulations mechanisms consolidation (emergency, adoption by private actors and results) will be presented. As observed in all three cases the two main explanatory approaches presented by the literature relate to (1) approaches based on market incentives, and (2) political-cultural approaches aimed at the analisis of the social field in which firms operate. Hence, the aim is to contextualize, provide a broad theoretical background and determine the main explanatory variables for the analysis of the central hypotheses of this study that both values and market incentives are crucial in the process of adopting private regulatory mechanisms and that such mechanisms can be effective providers of public goods. These hypotheses will then be tested by the empirical part of this research.

This dissertation contends that to appropriately address important cross-border problems and pursue public interest(s) in an increasingly globalized world, we must deal directly with the more complex, networked, interdependent and hybrid governance forms which have grown increasingly common alongside globalization. Consequently this, dissertation examines the largely unexplored possibility of commercial contracts to act as a governance tool capable of improving the ethical quality and effectiveness of global agri-food governance to address critical challenges in that sector. These include those associated with food safety, ecological sustainability and biodiversity, gender equality, access to food, poor working conditions, inequality as well as issues of representation and inclusion in decision-making. To do so, the dissertation advances a novel conceptual framework of commercial contracting that opens up space to explore and identify features of contracting which enable it to go beyond private interests to also address public ones. To demonstrate this, the dissertation utilizes empirics from my case study, which is grounded in the transnational pineapple value chain between Ghana and Western Europe. This dissertation makes four key contributions to knowledge. First, it has developed a novel and generalizable conceptual framework of contractual governance through which activists and policymakers can address critical global agri-food governance challenges. It has also advanced practical options to do so. Second, this dissertation has important implications for global and private agri-food governance literatures, which have ignored the commercial contract and the influential role that it plays in the governance of food. Third, this thesis contributes to a body of existing literature indicating that “private” governance arrangements may be more capable than many often given them credit for in governing in democratically legitimate ways over issue areas of broad public interest. Finally, this thesis contributes empirical data in a field and area of study which is notoriously opaque and inaccessible. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This dissertation examines the potential of private contracts to increase the sustainable and ethical production and consumption of food. It argues that contracts are more capable of regulating over important issues that are of common concern than they are given credit for. It also argues that commercial contracts have particular features that make them well-suited to regulating long-distance relationships that span the borders of countries and include a variety of different stakeholders. This is noteworthy, because the regulation of long-distance relationships is becoming both more common and important in the world today. To demonstrate my arguments, the dissertation uses data taken from interviews with pineapple farmers and exporting companies in Ghana who produce pineapple for supermarkets in Europe. It also draws on interviews from public regulators in the European Commission, and international organizations, as well as lawyers, academics and private standard-setting bodies in agriculture such as GlobalGAP.

The central argument that I advance in this dissertation is that the influence of the Rockefeller Foundation (RF) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) in the governance of global health and agricultural development has been derived from their ability to advance knowledge structures crafted to accommodate the preferences of the dominant states operating within the contexts where they have sought to catalyze change. Consequently, this dissertation provides a new way of conceptualizing knowledge power broadly conceived as well as private governance as it relates to the provision of public goods. In the first half of the twentieth-century, RF funds drove scientific research that produced tangible solutions, such as vaccines and high-yielding seed varieties, to longstanding problems undermining the health and wealth of developing countries emerging from the clutches of colonialism. At the country-level, the Foundation provided advanced training to a generation of agricultural scientists and health practitioners, and RF expertise was also pivotal to the creation of specialized International Organizations (IOs) for health (e.g. the League of Nations Health Organization) and agriculture (e.g. the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research) as well as many informal international networks of experts working to solve common problems. Finally in the neo-liberal era, RF effectively demonstrated how the public-private partnership paradigm could provide public goods in the face of externally imposed austerity constraining public sector capacity and the failure of the free-market to meet the needs of populations with limited purchasing power. Since its inception, the BMGF has demonstrated a similar commitment to underwriting innovation through science oriented towards reducing global health disparities and increasing agricultural productivity in poor countries, and has greatly expanded the application of the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) approach in both health and agriculture. Unlike its intellectual forebear, BMGF has been far more focused on end-points and silver bullets than investing directly in the training of human resources. Moreover whereas RF has for most of its history decentralized its staff, those of BMGF have been concentrated mainly at its headquarters in Seattle. With no operational programs of its own, BMGF has instead relied heavily on external consultants to inform its programs and remains dependent on intermediary organizations to implement its grants. Despite these and other differences, both RF and BMGF have exhibited a common capacity to catalyse institutional innovation that has benefited historically marginalized populations in the absence of structural changes to the dominant global power structure. A preference for compromise over contestation, coupled with a capacity for enabling innovation in science and governance, has resulted in broad acceptance for RF and BMGF knowledge structures within both state and international policy arenas. This acceptance has translated into both Foundations having direct influence over (i) how major challenges related to disease and agriculture facing the global south are understood (i.e. the determinants and viable solutions); (ii) what types of knowledge matters for solving said problems (i.e. who leads); and (iii) how collective action focused on addressing these problems is structured (i.e. the institutional frameworks).

In recent decades, political scientists have devoted substantial attention to the changing role of the state towards more inclusion of non-state actors in policymaking. This deliberative turn, or move towards governance, may signal inability to handle complex problems without cooperation with nonstate actors. On the other hand, governance is frequently credited with generating legitimate decision-making processes and results. In some instances, non-governmental actors have even taken the lead in policymaking. One archetype of such private governance, which has received significant scholarly attention, is forest certification. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is frequently described as the most democratic and therefore legitimate forest certification organization since it grants equal voting rights to three stakeholder groups in the formulation of criteria for responsible forestry: environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs), social groups (indigenous peoples and labor organizations) and forest owners. However, in Sweden, a country often described as a role model in forest certification, the FSC has increasingly received critique for failing to generate legitimate processes and results, and recently three of five ENGOs have chosen to exit the FSC organization. Such processes of de-legitimation have received little attention in the forest certification literature. This thesis therefore provides a critical assessment of the legitimacy of forest certification in Sweden. Legitimacy is analyzed through concerned stakeholders’ perceptions of both procedural qualities (input legitimacy) and problem-solving capacity (output legitimacy). This study of legitimacy is combined with an assessment of the ability of certification to enhance environmental protection, defined as changes in both forest management practices and biophysical conditions. The thesis focuses not the least on legitimacy on the local level, which is where the actual implementation takes place. Today local studies of the legitimacy of forest certification are rare. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods are applied and a number of sources are analyzed: forest monitoring data, survey data, interviews with and documents produced by the participating stakeholders. Papers I and IV analyze the perceived legitimacy of forest certification, while Papers II and III analyze forest certification schemes’ ability to enhance environmental protection. The results show that a process of de-legitimation is occurring in Swedish forest certification. In particular, certification has lost legitimacy with ENGOs, which increasingly consider Swedish forest certification to lack both input legitimacy and output legitimacy. Moreover, although the Swedish FSC standard pays attention to reindeer husbandry, the results show that reindeer herders consider themselves to have limited power to influence long-term forest planning and management (low output legitimacy). The forest industry, on the other hand, increasingly grants legitimacy to forest certification due to customer demands, which are created not the least by pressures from international ENGOs and by EU regulation. The results also show that Swedish forest companies have paid more attention to their environmental practices after obtaining certification. However, to what extent these changes result in positive environmental impacts remains uncertain, especially since forests in Sweden grow slowly, which requires analyses over time. There are also measurement problems resulting from the low certification rate among small-scale forest owners and from the fact that certified small-scale owners tend to be more active in their management. These findings highlight that research on private forest governance should not neglect the role of the state, neither as a buyer nor as a regulator. These findings also suggest that further research should pay attention to power asymmetries in private governance and develop methods for better understanding and evaluating the certification schemes’ environmental and social impacts.

The aim of this dissertation is to expand upon current understandings of the emergent global phenomenon that is private authority. Private authority is a process wherein private actors create, implement, and enforce rules aimed at managing global problems. As private authority is becoming increasingly important in the conduct of global governance, broadening our understanding of it will serve the field of International Relations. In this dissertation I argue that private actors are not simply outgrowths of structures or certain material conditions, rather they are purposive actors strategically pursuing an agenda. As such, explaining private authority requires an examination of the constitutive elements that underlie this social phenomenon––to which I apply an innovative conceptual and analytical framework that combines social network theory with discourse analysis. I applied these tools to two cases taken from the environmental sector––forests and fisheries. I found that as a result of the development of a greater networked character to environmental politics, the actors that were best able to generate and wield private authority were those that were able to construct discursive nodal points around which other competing actors could converge––at the level of identity. The construction of nodal points placed these private actors in privileged positions in-between competing networks––making them network connectors. In this position they are able to facilitate the flow of power across networks and convert such into private authority, at a rate greater than that of their competitors. As related to the cases, I found that in forests and fisheries sectors it was the Forest Stewardship Council and Marine Stewardship Council that emerged as the most prominent and expansive private authorities. They did so as a result of their ability to construct a nodal point around their tailored definition of what sustainable development meant, and looked like in practice. This placed them in-between two powerful networks (the environmental NGO network and the industrial network), facilitating the flow of power between them, and leveraging such to expand their programs beyond that of competing programs. Thus, social position plays a crucial role in determining the success of private authority programs.

Les pays du Maghreb (Tunisie, Algérie, Maroc) ont engagé de profondes réformes structurelles sur les plans politique et économique. Leurs équilibres macroéconomiques sont à peu près maîtrisés et ils bénéficient d’une multiplication de partenariats avec l'UE et de programmes d'aides internationales. Pour autant, ces pays n'arrivent pas à atteindre un niveau soutenu de croissance leur permettant de se développer. En se basant sur un cadre théorique centré sur l’interrelation entre les mécanismes de gouvernance publique et privée, cette recherche doctorale se propose de comprendre les raisons du blocage de développement dans les pays du Maghreb.A partir d’une définition stricte de la gouvernance et au moyen de la base de données « Profils Institutionnels » du MINEFI, pour les années 2001 et 2009, nous construisons 31 variables institutionnelles de gouvernance publique et privée pour 51 pays développés et en développement. Nous examinons ainsi la dynamique des Systèmes Nationaux de Gouvernance des pays du Maghreb comparée à celle d’autres pays, notamment à celle des Pays de l’Europe Centrale et Orientale (PECO).L’exploitation des données, moyennant des ACP et des régressions linéaires, souligne l’importance des institutions de gouvernance qui se rapportent aux niveaux de formalisation des règles et qui expliquent le développement ou le blocage des pays. Nos résultats démontrent également, en comparaison avec les PECO, que le blocage de la transition des pays du Maghreb est expliqué, dans une large mesure, par leur faible niveau de formalisation des règles souligné par la quasi-stagnation de l’évolution de cette formalisation entre 2001 et 2009. Les niveaux des libertés accordées aux citoyens permettent aussi d’expliquer les différences de développement entre les pays. / Maghreb countries (Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco) have undertaken substantial structural reforms on the political and economical level. Their macro-economical equilibrium is almost under control and they benefit from increased E.U. partnerships coupled with international aid programs. However, these countries have failed to reach a sustained growth level that would allow them to develop. Based on a theoretical framework centered on the interrelationship between mechanisms of public and private governance, this doctoral research aims at understanding the reasons behind the Maghreb countries’ development block.From a strict definition of governance and using the MINEFI "Institutional Profiles" database, for the years 2001 and 2009, we built 31 variables of institutional, public and private, governance for 51 developed and developing countries. Dynamics of the National Systems of Governance of the Maghreb countries were examined and compared to that of other countries, particularly to that of Central and Eastern Europe countries.The use of data factor analysis and linear regressions has highlighted the importance of governance institutions that are related to the levels of formalization of rules, and that explain the development or its hiatus in these countries. Our results also showed, in comparison with the Central and Eastern Europe countries, that the transition of the Maghreb countries is explained largely by their low level of formalization of rules and by their almost stagnation between 2001 and 2009. The different levels of freedoms granted to citizens also helped explaining the differences in development between countries.