Developing the Publicness of Public International Law: Towards a Legal Framework for Global Governance Activities

Abstract

This paper develops a comprehensive framework for the legal analysis of global governance phenomena. Global governance is considered as an important analytical perspective which points out new trends in relations. However, from a normative standpoint it is unsatisfactory, as it does not allow to single out those activities of institutions which compromise individual self-determination. To this end, the paper proposes the concept of international public authority, which allows identifying all hard and soft mechanisms that constitute unilateral exercises of power. For such unilateral, public power to be legitimate, it needs to correspond to yet to be defined standards of public law. After discussing current legal approaches like Global Administrative Law and constitutionalism, which all aim at the development of such standards, the paper proposes a comprehensive public law approach, which finds its basis in institutional law. This approach would avoid the uncertainties surrounding the legal bases of principles of Global Administrative Law and the risk of constitutionalism to fail on its normative ambitions. The paper sets out the framework of a comprehensive research project on the exercise of public authority by institutions.