Transnational Sustainability Governance Research Articles

Yixian Sun: Certifying China: the rise and limits of transnational sustainability governance in emerging economies

Yixian Sun: Certifying China: the rise and limits of transnational sustainability governance in emerging economies

Certifying China: The Rise and Limits of Transnational Sustainability Governance in Emerging Economies , by Yixian Sun

Certifying China: The Rise and Limits of Transnational Sustainability Governance in Emerging Economies , by Yixian Sun

Contested representations: A comparative analysis of palm oil sustainability in Malaysian and Dutch media

The emergence of palm oil as the world's most produced and consumed vegetable oil has prompted various policy initiatives to help govern the industry in a sustainable manner. These initiatives include transnational sustainable certification schemes, such as the Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), and national level sustainability standards, such as Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil. To date, attempts to find consensus on sustainable policy and processes has been characterised by tension and disagreement. Most notably, stakeholders participating in policy dialogue from producing countries are unsatisfied with the outcomes of transnational palm oil governance. Tension stems from observations that sustainability is understood differently in the palm oil producing countries of the Global South compared with Northern consumption markets. To understand the different framings of palm oil and potential governance solutions, we investigate media coverage of palm oil sustainability in two different countries: the Netherlands – the largest importer of palm oil in Europe – and Malaysia – the second largest exporter of palm oil in the world after Indonesia. From a sample of 397 Malaysian and Dutch newspaper articles between 2000 and 2015, we employ framing analysis to examine the similarities and differences in media representations of palm oil sustainability. Our findings reveal considerable differences in the way palm oil sustainability is framed in the two countries. Malaysian media frame palm oil as a sustainable industry yet underpinned by a distrust towards transnational sustainability governance (e.g. RSPO) and a perception of unfair treatment towards producing countries by the West. Conversely, Dutch media frame the West as proud consumers of palm oil, who are driving up sustainability standards through NGO scrutiny and participation in transnational processes. We argue that a comparative analysis of media frames offers instructive insights for understanding processes of transnational sustainability governance. In particular, we posit that reconciling policy tensions between North and South palm oil stakeholders could be achieved by highlighting the differences in sustainability framings at different points in the value chain to identify contestation and consensus.

Building Legitimacy in an Era of Polycentric Trade: The Case of Transnational Sustainability Governance

Increasing multi-polarity within global politics is understood to be a key contributor to the current legitimacy crisis facing global governance organisations. International relations scholars studying this crisis recognise that a prominent strategy to confront “Northern” dominance within this arena is through the construction of alternative governance institutions. Yet while the de-legitimation of long-established international organisations is widely discussed, there is less focused attention on how alternative institutions seek to gain legitimacy, particularly when they advance in fields where both “Northern” and “Southern” interests matter and beliefs about what constitutes proper governance may differ. This article analyses the field of transnational economic governance where the de-legitimation of pre-existing Northern-oriented governance takes the shape of new initiatives backed by Southern actors. Specifically, we focus on transnational sustainability standards governing trade and production in the global economy. This global governance arena has been transformed by the increasingly polycentric nature of global trade, in which producers governed by sustainability standards cater to rapidly expanding markets in the Global South as well as markets in the Global North. As markets have expanded in emerging economies, transnational sustainability standards must increasingly navigate and respond to actors and interests within different geographies in order to gain and establish legitimacy. The recent development of Southern-oriented sustainability standards (as opposed to established Northern-led standards) reflects the existence of diverging perspectives on the appropriateness of established rules and procedures when it comes to the regulation of trade and production. These standards are seen as partially challenging established standards but may likely seek to establish legitimacy within the wider transnational field of sustainability governance. This article examines the case of a recently established India-based sustainability standard known as Trustea to illustrate how various actors managed design and policy dilemmas to reconcile the preferences and beliefs of various audiences. The case illustrates the significance of both “Northern” and “Southern” audiences to Trustea’s legitimacy-seeking strategies in the context of broader political contestations regarding how production should be governed in relation to sustainable practices.

Certifying China: The Rise and Limits of Transnational Sustainability Governance in Emerging Economies, by Yixian Sun. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2022. 276 pp. US$35.00 (paper); also available as an e-book.

Previous articleNext article No AccessReviewsCertifying China: The Rise and Limits of Transnational Sustainability Governance in Emerging Economies, by Yixian Sun. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2022. 276 pp. US$35.00 (paper); also available as an e-book.Gerald ChanGerald ChanUniversity of Auckland Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The China Journal Volume 88July 2022 Published on behalf of the Australian Centre on China in the World at the Australian National University Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/720189 Views: 19Total views on this site For permission to reuse, please contact [email protected]PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Restricting NGOs: From Pushback to Accommodation

Restricting NGOs: From Pushback to Accommodation

Transnational Sustainability Governance and the Law

Transnational Sustainability Governance and the Law

Coupling Labor Codes of Conduct and Supplier Labor Practices: The Role of Internal Structural Conditions

In response to media exposés and activist group pressure to eliminate exploitive working conditions, multinational companies have pushed their suppliers to adopt labor codes of conduct and improve their labor practices to meet the standards set forth in these codes. Yet little is known about the extent to which suppliers are improving their labor practices to conform to codes of conduct, especially in organizations in which legitimacy structures like codes compete with productivity-driving incentive structures. We theorize that the presence of particular internal structures will affect the extent to which suppliers’ labor practices will become more tightly aligned—or coupled—with their formal commitments to adhere to labor codes. Specifically, we theorize high-powered productivity incentives to be associated with less coupling, and being certified to management system standards and having workers’ unions to be associated with more coupling. We also argue that these efficiency and managerial structures will moderate each other’s relationship to coupling, and that certification and unions will each increase the other’s positive association with coupling. Using social audit data on 3,276 suppliers in 55 countries, we find evidence that supports our hypotheses. Our focus on the internal structural composition of suppliers extends the decoupling literature by theorizing and demonstrating conditions under which suppliers’ core organizational functions are likely to be buffered from change by legitimacy structures. Furthermore, our findings suggest important strategic considerations for managers selecting supplier factories and provide key insights for the design of transnational sustainability governance regimes. The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2018.1261 .

Missing the Bigger Picture: A Population-level Analysis of Transnational Private Governance Organizations Active in the Global South

This article conducts a population-level analysis of transnational private governance organizations (TPGOs) that develop standards for sustainable commodity production in the Global South. Our point of departure is the observation that despite the rapid growth in the number of TPGOs active in developing countries the extant scholarship remains focused on a small set of well-studied programs. To address this imbalance, this article brings much needed empirical breadth to current debates on the proliferation, inclusivity, and distributional consequences of transnational sustainability governance. Analyzing 47 TPGOs and their operations in 12 export-oriented commodity sectors and the 10 largest developing country producers of these commodities, our explorations reveal signs of a worrying “bigger picture”. The highly unequal geographic and sectoral distribution of TPGOs, the lack of inclusion of producers in their central decision-making bodies, and the prevalence of problematic cost sharing arrangements limit the potential of this mode of governance to contribute to sustainable commodity production in developing countries.

Transparency in transnational governance: The determinants of information disclosure of voluntary sustainability programs

AbstractThe rise of “new” transnational governance has intensified debates about a lack of accountability in global politics. Reviewing the mechanisms through which transparency can foster accountability beyond the state, this article explores the determinants of information disclosure in the field of transnational sustainability governance. Examining the institutional design of 113 voluntary sustainability programs, we find a positive correlation between the involvement of public actors and information disclosure. In contrast, the role of civil society is more ambiguous. There is no statistical support for arguments linking non‐governmental organization participation to increased transparency. At the same time, our analysis reveals a robust correlation between civil society‐led metagovernance and information disclosure. Moreover, we find that crowding has a negative effect on transparency, whereas normative peer pressures have no influence. At a broader level, the analysis reveals a lack of “deep transparency” among transnational sustainability governors. This limits the scope for transparency‐induced accountability in this policy domain.

The territorialization of transnational sustainability governance: production, power and globalization in Iceland’s fisheries

ABSTRACTTo contribute to the literature on transnational sustainability governance hybrids, a new fisheries certification program in Iceland that was originally developed as an alternative to the non-governmental Marine Stewardship Council is examined. While this new program appears on the surface to constitute a purely nationalistic reaction against external non-state authority, the new governance institution is also non-governmental and incorporates international norms and institutions. To explain this new governance hybrid, Robert Cox’s International Political Economy approach to production and power is engaged. This approach theorizes the co-constitution of the social forces of production, state–society complexes and global governance. It is argued that the Icelandic case is not entirely localized or unique; it is part of a broader movement in which social forces of production respond to new market-oriented transnational sustainability governance institutions by developing territorially embedded but transnationally legitimate alternatives.

Transparency in Transnational Sustainability Governance: A Multivariate Analysis of Regulatory Standard-Setting Programs

Beginning in the early 1990s, non-state actors have taken over a wide range of governance functions that used to be the prerogative of states and international organizations. In the field of International Relations and related disciplines, this has intensified debates about a lack of accountability and legitimacy in global governance. Reviewing this debate and the role transparency can play in mitigating the problem, this article uses a new data set to analyze the issue empirically. Examining a sample of 143 regulatory standard-setting (RSS) programs in the field of transnational sustainability governance, we show that “deep transparency” – i.e. the disclosure of salient information – remains a problem in this domain. However, there are also RSS programs that are highly transparent in their practices. Using a multivariate analysis, we investigate the internal and external determinants of these inter-program variations. We find a systematic relationship between inclusiveness and transparency – although no evidence for the conventional wisdom that single-actor business programs are per se less credible. Turning to the external determinants of transparency two findings stand out: First, instead of a “ratcheting-up effect”, we observe a race-to-the-bottom dynamic between competing RSS programs. Second, our results confirm arguments about the positive influence of meta-governance on transparency.

The rise of territorial eco-certifications: New politics of transnational sustainability governance in the fishery sector

Eco-certifications have become an important site of power struggles in commodity sectors such as forestry, fisheries, aquaculture, palm oil, and soy. In each, multiple eco-certification initiatives have been developed and resisted through interactions among non-governmental organizations, governments, and commercial actors. This paper contributes to understanding how power is embodied in certifications by exploring how territoriality manifests in the international struggle over defining what products are ‘sustainable’ and which producers will have access to markets that require ‘sustainable’ products. Focusing on the wild capture fisheries sector in which the non-governmental Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) administers the preeminent eco-certification initiative, we explore the emergence of new fisheries eco-certification initiatives in Japan, Iceland, Alaska, Canada, and the US that insist there is no transnational monopoly on judgments over fisheries sustainability. We argue that these new eco-certifications attempt to defend and embed territorial social and regulatory relations of production within the contested domain of transnational sustainability governance. The initiatives accommodate both the territorially embedded material interests, institutions, and discursive strategies of producers (and their state supporting agencies) and transnationally embedded governance norms for assessing and communicating sustainability. They also counter the globally applicable institutions of the MSC in favor of making space for state and non-state actors to contend with demands for sustainability in the global seafood market by combining place-specific attributes with transnational governance norms.

The politics of resonance: Transnational sustainability governance in Argentina

AbstractWhy do private governance initiatives trigger greater participation in one country than another? This article examines the domestic dimension of transnational regulation through a case study of private sustainability governance in Argentina. Drawing from theories of contentious politics, the argument poses that the resonance of transnational private governance is shaped by the semantic compatibility of “incoming” sustainability programs against national political culture. Analyzing the limited participation of Argentine actors in contemporary sustainability initiatives, the article claims that the validity and relevance of sustainability programs is affected by three dimensions of national political culture accentuated over the last decade: a politicized model of state‐society relations, the low visibility of environmental matters, and a widespread anti‐corporate culture. By examining the ideational fundamentals of the “politics of resonance” in Argentina, the article makes a relevant and original contribution to transnational regulation literature, highlighting the need for theoretical accounts and empirical analyses that address domestic and cultural variables as fundamental pieces in transnational norm diffusion and effectiveness.

Transnational Sustainability Governance in the Global South: A Comparative Study of Producer Support in Brazil

A primary objective of transnational sustainability governance is to address governance failures in the global south. But little is known about the conditions under which producer groups in these countries participate in private regulation. To shed some light on this question, this article examines the decisions of key players in the Brazilian agriculture industry to support (not to support) transnational sustainability governance. Using a qualitative case study approach, the article explores how soybean producers first backed the Roundtable on Responsible Soy, but then decided to withdraw their support from the initiative. In the sugarcane sector, the dynamic was a very different one. After initial resistance, the principal industry association switched strategy and endorsed Bonsucro, making it the leading sustainability standard for sugarcane in Brazil. Through a within-in case analysis and cross-sector comparison, this article shows how southern producer groups responded to economic and regulatory changes in the global market place, in particular, a shift in trade flows and the adoption of public sustainability regulation in the global north.

Politics of private regulation:ISEALand the shaping of transnational sustainability governance

AbstractScholars describe the proliferation of sustainability standards by multi‐stakeholder initiatives as part of an organizational field for sustainability. The aim of this article is to gain a better understanding of the institutionalization process of this global organizational field by focusing on the case of theISEAL Alliance (the global association for sustainability standards). We show howISEALputs specific strategies into place to both reinforce and expand the role and influence of sustainability standards. This institutional entrepreneurship consists primarily of two dimensions: institutionalizing macro‐standards based on a market‐driven and procedural vision of sustainability; and simultaneously legitimating both the tools andISEALthrough internal and external enrolments and entanglements. The characterization ofISEAL's activities in this way brings politics back into the analysis of sustainability standard‐related technical debates and extends our understanding of how the micro‐dynamics within organizational fields are interdependent upon macro‐dynamics outside organizational fields.

World Politics and Organizational Fields: The Case of Transnational Sustainability Governance

Transnational rule-making organizations have proliferated in the area of sustainability politics. In this article, we explore why these organizations share a set of core features that appear overly costly at first sight. We argue that norms that evolved out of the social interaction among transnational rule-making organizations account for this phenomenon. Thus, in the early 1990s, an organizational field of transnational rule-making has gradually developed in the field of environmental politics. Responding to a broader social discourse about global governance that stressed a need for innovative forms of cooperation among different societal sectors, this organizational field gained in legitimacy and strength. A set of commonly accepted core norms, the increasing density of interaction among the field’s members, and the success and legitimacy ascribed to the field’s key players by the outside world helped to solidify the organizational field until it eventually developed a ‘life of its own’.