Power and Interactions in the Politics of Transnational Public-Private Governance
Type
fundamental research project
Start Date
December 1, 2014
End Date
December 31, 2016
Status
ongoing
Keywords
Global governance
transnational public-private governance
non-state actors
power
Description
This project will break new ground in the study of transnational public-private governance schemes. Transnational public-private governance schemes are transnational institutions in which states, corporations, and non-governmental organizations cooperate to govern global policy problems. They are neither the inter-state organizations that international relations scholars traditionally studied, nor are they the forms of private authority that have been the subject of much recent research and theorizing. While in 1990 there existed only 22 transnational governance arrangements, by 2013 their number had grown to 133, multiplying by over five times. They are not equally distributed among issue areas, but they deal with issues central to state interests, such as economic and security problems.
The growth of these initiatives is puzzling, because it raises questions about how state and non-state actors can cooperate in addressing global problems. The first wave of research on the topic approached transnational public-private governance schemes from a functionalist perspective and emphasized their efficiency advantages vis-à-vis more conventional forms of global governance. More recent contributions focus on the political dimensions of transnational public-private governance, arguing that distributional conflict and power asymmetries matter for the functioning, design, and outcomes of public-private governance schemes. We build on this political perspective by analyzing how state and non-state actors resolve conflicting agendas, compete for scarce resources, and struggle for influence over policy-making, implementation, and institution-building.
The project will develop a research agenda that 1) explores transnational public-private governance as a unique form of global governance with its own patterns and forms; 2) analyzes the varieties of power deployed by different actors within this context; and 3) examines the politics and dynamics of the interactions among governance arrangements.
We view this project as an important contribution to a deeper understanding of global governance at a time of great innovation and change. Public-private governance processes are a category that is underexplored despite dramatic increases in the number of such schemes. Theoretical frameworks based on cooperation among states, as in the literature on intergovernmental organizations and international regimes, or cooperation among firms, as in the private authority literature, may not accurately capture the power dynamics within public-private cooperative endeavors. Furthermore, forms and functioning of power in transnational public-private governance schemes have remained largely unexplored. Finally, scholars are struggling to develop a better understanding of transnational governance interactions. We believe this project will stimulate intensive theoretical and empirical attention to this important and influential area and shed important new light on the power politics and interactions of transnational public-private governance.
The growth of these initiatives is puzzling, because it raises questions about how state and non-state actors can cooperate in addressing global problems. The first wave of research on the topic approached transnational public-private governance schemes from a functionalist perspective and emphasized their efficiency advantages vis-à-vis more conventional forms of global governance. More recent contributions focus on the political dimensions of transnational public-private governance, arguing that distributional conflict and power asymmetries matter for the functioning, design, and outcomes of public-private governance schemes. We build on this political perspective by analyzing how state and non-state actors resolve conflicting agendas, compete for scarce resources, and struggle for influence over policy-making, implementation, and institution-building.
The project will develop a research agenda that 1) explores transnational public-private governance as a unique form of global governance with its own patterns and forms; 2) analyzes the varieties of power deployed by different actors within this context; and 3) examines the politics and dynamics of the interactions among governance arrangements.
We view this project as an important contribution to a deeper understanding of global governance at a time of great innovation and change. Public-private governance processes are a category that is underexplored despite dramatic increases in the number of such schemes. Theoretical frameworks based on cooperation among states, as in the literature on intergovernmental organizations and international regimes, or cooperation among firms, as in the private authority literature, may not accurately capture the power dynamics within public-private cooperative endeavors. Furthermore, forms and functioning of power in transnational public-private governance schemes have remained largely unexplored. Finally, scholars are struggling to develop a better understanding of transnational governance interactions. We believe this project will stimulate intensive theoretical and empirical attention to this important and influential area and shed important new light on the power politics and interactions of transnational public-private governance.
Leader contributor(s)
Haufler, Virginia
Partner(s)
University of Maryland
Funder
Topic(s)
International Relations
Global Governance
Transnational Public-Private Governance
Non-State Actors
Power
Method(s)
Statistics
Notes
Database project
Range
HSG Internal
Range (De)
HSG Intern
Division(s)
Eprints ID
236071