A Glimpse at the Democratic Legitimacy of Private Standards: Assessing the Public Accountability of GlobalG.A.P.

Serving a heterogeneous Muslim identity? Private governance arrangements of halal food in the Netherlands

“…Meanwhile, these standards have created new business opportunities, particularly in niche markets, and certificates serve as marketing tools (Bitzer and Glasbergen 2015). Research is abundant on these governance mechanisms; topics of research are for example the development of the standards (Lewandowski and Faaij 2006;Bartley 2003;Glasbergen 2007), their legitimacy (Bernstein and Cashore 2007;Hachez and Wouters 2011;Steffek 2009), and their effectiveness (KPMG 2013;Blackmore et al 2012;Quaedvlieg et al 2014). Almost all standards that have been studied can be labelled as secular.…”

The legitimacy of transnational private governance arrangements related to nanotechnologies: the case of international organization for standardization

“…Benz and Papadopoulos, 2006;Black, 2008;Scott et al 2011;Papadopoulos, 2011;Hachez and Wouters, 2011). Furthermore, in the absence of the democratic institutions of the nation state and the global demos at the transnational level, many scholars have questioned, amongst others, the ability of TGAs to ensure the effective inclusion and representation of industrial, economic, regulatory and social interests at transnational level (see for example Buchanan and Keohane, 2006;Brühl, 2006;Curtin and Senden, 2011;Scott et al 2011;Papadopoulos, 2011;Forsberg, 2012;Quack, 2010).…”

“…Such arrangements are not established (or are less likely established) through legal mandates nor involve the components of parliamentary representation. As such, the use of vote or elections as the ultimate instrument of public participation and control to regulator's actions become elusive (Hachez and Wouters, 2011). Decision-making authority in TGAs is generally held by non-elected representatives including those drawn from laboratories, the private sector and academia (Delbrück, 2003;Hahn and Weidtman, 2012;Thatcher and Sweet, 2011).…”

“…However, at transnational level the existence of global demos is absent and the remaining challenge is to determine who should be involved in the decision-making processes of these arrangements (Black, 2008). TPGAs are established, implemented and enforced by private actors and experts (Black, 2008;Schmidt, 2010;Mayntz, 2010;Hinsch, 2008;Thatcher and Sweet, 2011;Hachez and Wouters, 2011;Steffek and Pereira, 2011). For instance, transnational standardization bodies usually consist of industry representatives, top-level bureaucrats, societal organizations or policy experts (Abbott and Snidal, 2008;Black, 2008;Djelic and Sahlin-Andersson, 2006;Papadopoulos, 2007;Cadman, 2011;Hallström and Boström, 2010).…”

“…In the absence of the global demos at transnational level, in this thesis the concept of stakeholders is associated with that of a sectoral demoi. The concept of sectoral demoi refers to actors who are likely or willing to participate in an arrangement in order to regulate the issue at stake (Hachez and Wouters, 2011), because they "have an interest on the issue under consideration, are affected by the issue or have an active influence in the decision-making and implementation processes" (Varvasovszky and Brugha, 2000: 341).…”