Process effects of multistakeholder institutions: Theory and evidence from the Open Government Partnership

Daniel Berliner,Alex Ingrams,Suzanne J Piotrowski

doi:10.1111/rego.12430

Abstract

AbstractHow does membership in transnational multistakeholder institutions shape states' domestic governance? We complement traditional compliance‐based approaches by developing a process model, focusing on the independent effects of processes associated with institutional membership, but separate from commitments and compliance themselves. These effects can be driven by iterative and participatory institutional features, which are increasingly prevalent in global governance. We apply this model to the Open Government Partnership (OGP), a transnational multistakeholder initiative with nearly 80 member countries, featuring highly flexible commitments and weak enforcement. Although commitments and compliance have generally been limited, a compliance‐focused approach alone cannot account for myriad other consequences globally and domestically, driven by the iterative and participatory features associated with membership. We demonstrate these at work in a case study of Mexico's OGP membership, which contributed to the spread of new norms and policy models, new political resources and opportunities for reformers, and new linkages and coalitions.

Highlights

How does membership in transnational institutions shape states’ domestic governance? Traditional approaches to this question focus on compliance: The extent to which governments fulfill their commitments, and that those commitments matter for intended outcomes
Such iterative and participatory processes can have surprising effects of their own, that is, empowering some participants over others, creating new political opportunities, spurring demand for new policy ideas, and linking actors together in new ways. We develop this process model and demonstrate its plausibility, using qualitative evidence from one specific transnational multistakeholder initiative (MSI): the Open Government Partnership (OGP)
Both globally and from an in-depth case study of Mexico, that OGP membership has generally resulted in limited direct policy outputs and outcomes as understood by a compliance-focused approach, yet at the same time has been associated with broader developments highly consistent with a process model

Summary

Introduction

How does membership in transnational institutions shape states’ domestic governance? Traditional approaches to this question focus on compliance: The extent to which governments fulfill their commitments, and that those commitments matter for intended outcomes. Not all membership-based institutions will set in motion such process-driven effects, but we suggest that they are more likely where procedures are more iterative and more participatory – involving a larger scope of both actions and actors. This approach is important given the increasing prevalence and salience of flexible, iterative, and participatory elements in global governance, such as in transnational multistakeholder initiatives and other institutions embodying characteristics of soft law, “new multilateralism,” and experimentalist governance. Such institutions generally seek to fill gaps in global governance by emphasizing both greater flexibility of rules and enforcement, and greater non-state actor participation, than traditional international institutions

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