The Expansion of Global Governance into the Third World: Altruism, Realism, or Constructivism?

Abstract

This essay examines the expansion of global governance into developing countries. Its central thesis is that in the present era of globalization, competitiveness has become a major concern for developed countries, in particular, those facing tough competition from the developing states that have improved their terms of trade through state‐led development strategies and have become major exporters of manufactured products. Developed countries seek the expansion of global governance in order to regulate the behavior of these developing states, thereby opening their economies to foreign investment and augmenting their wealth. Yet, a successful expansion of global governance requires the creation of internal institutions in the developing countries that may alter their political cultures. Given the unique problems of the developing states, this task cannot be achieved simply by internationalizing the countries in the Global South. This essay relies on the theory of social constructivism and contends that the creation of internal institutions compatible with global governance has been achieved only when developing countries have become convinced that global regulations will benefit them, not just the more developed states.

The Global Diffusion of Regulatory Capitalism

“…International competition, coordination, and cooperation between the regulatory systems of the United States and Europe are important in shaping the global arena as well as domestic regulatory regimes (Kahler 1995;Bach and Newman 2004). The United States and Europe certainly use regulation as a form of power to advance THE GLOBAL DIFFUSION OF REGULATORY CAPITALISM the interests of their own constituencies in the global arena (Halabi 2004;Jessop 2002;Cerny 2001;Drahos 2003). At another level, the international order is one in which transnational networks of technocrats and professions have more influence than ever before (Haas 1992;Domínguez 1997;Dezalay and Garth 2002;Slaughter 2004).…”

Network Institutionalism and NGO Studies

“…The ontological place of non‐governmental organizations (NGOs) in international relations (IR) is often explained by the growing institutionalization of world politics (Risse‐Kappen ; Josselin and Wallace ; Halabi ; Woods ). Indeed, NGOs are recognized as one of the key elements in the emerging forms of global governance (Coleman and Perl ; Keohane and Nye ; Hirsch ) and growing bureaucratization in world politics (Finnemore ; Barnett and Finnemore a,b).…”

Standards and Regulatory Capitalism: The Diffusion of Food Safety Standards in Developing Countries

“…"Once clothed in technical language, such [technical] decisions lose their transparency and acquire a look of impartial credibility that resists criticism by actors lacking the necessary expertise" (Jasanoff 1998, 73). Wealthy countries are shaping the international food safety regime and then encouraging poorer countries to adopt elements of it, and there are potential problems with this, similar to conclusions others have drawn regarding the global financial system (Halabi 2004). Thus, as regulatory capitalism continues to spread, conclusions about whether this is a normatively good or bad phenomenon will be…”