Transforming Markets? Activists’ Strategic Orientations and Engagement With Private Governance

Abstract

Private governance regimes—instances where nonstate actors set rules that govern their behavior and/or the behavior of others—are increasingly common intermediaries between activists and corporations. Activists are often thought to drive corporations to participate in private governance. By participating, corporations hope to be shielded from activist pressures. Yet there are many instances where activists oppose particular private governance regimes, even ones that are seen as leaders in a sector. Why is this? This article contributes answers to this question by examining how activists’ different strategic orientations affect their perceptions of private governance. It unpacks three distinct ideal-type strategic orientations—prefiguration, targeting, and cooperation—activists may hold in their efforts to transform markets and the different forms of private governance each orientation will prefer. It then details how market entry conditions, sequencing and interactions, and feedbacks affect how activists are likely to engage the private governance regimes that develop in a given sector.

Activists' and social entrepreneurs' approaches towards consumer culture: Providing a protective space for sustainability transitions

“…Meanwhile, the activists in our study adopt a market contestation logic and believe that they can achieve change by delegitimizing unsustainable consumer practices (Auld, 2020;King & Pearce, 2010). This tactic is crucial to expanding the niche to include a diverse range of consumers, who may not have sustainability values, but enter the niche for other reasons.…”

Scaling up Solutions for a Sustainability Transition

“…In addition, Greenpeace and other NGOs campaigned for Unilever and others to act, using a naming-andshaming approach. 14,15 Unilever thus committed to buy only sustainably sourced fish and asked its suppliers to get on board, even dropping those who could not confirm legal catches. In 1996, Unilever began working with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to develop the MSC as an eco-certification program for seafood generally.…”

“…Examples of these changes here include greater responsibility and accountability of large corporations for their impact throughout their supply chains, land registration of producers, and multistakeholder agreements. Early commitments by the most progressive actors to tackling sustainability issues were important steps in taking corporate social responsibility into the ll OPEN ACCESS mainstream and in institutionalizing sustainability governance 15,34 . In some cases, prefigurative activists who pushed society to reconsider the proper roles and goals of markets have been an important normative influence, as exemplified by early proponents of organic agriculture.…”

“…In some cases, prefigurative activists who pushed society to reconsider the proper roles and goals of markets have been an important normative influence, as exemplified by early proponents of organic agriculture. 15 Across the initiatives reviewed above, key players with different missions and goals-private companies, civil society, governments, and sometimes community actors-collaborated to design solutions that fit with each party's incentives and constraints. 35 They jointly invented ways to overcome the hurdles of collective action as each had to recognize their common interests as well as the valid concerns of other parties.…”

Introduction to the Special Issue on “Social Movements and Private Environmental Governance”

“…Students of green activism often characterize NGO strategies toward business as having two main forms: confrontation and cooperation (Lyon, 2012). However, Graeme Auld (2020) argues there is a third form that has been underappreciated: “prefiguration,” that is, leading by example. Organic farming offers an illustrative case.…”