Skip to main content

The Politics of Global Regulation (A Review)

The debate around global regulation has reached something of crescendo in the last year or so. While the financial crisis again demonstrated the integrated nature of the global economic system and the nations’ dependency on global players to coordinate meaningful action, the outcome of the Copenhagen summit showed the difficulty of delivering global outcomes that are favourable to all. It is therefore timely and welcome that Mattli and Woods have undertaken to edit The Politics of Global Regulation.

The editors bring together a range of experts to discuss the political nature of global regulation, centred on a conceptual framework that analyses how changes in global regulation occur and what drives them. The basic thrust of the framework is that global regulation is an outworking of global supply and demand forces for regulation. How these forces interact to reach equilibrium determines on whether the regulatory shift from the status quo benefits vested interests or achieves a wider public purpose.

The supply side is largely determined by the institutional context within which global regulation takes place. Where the institutions are more open, accessible and accountable, the system is less prone to regulatory capture. In contrast, where rules are far less open, transparent, or accountable we are likely to see more capture. However, open institutions on their own won’t deliver profound change. There must be significant and sustained demand for change, principally led by outside interest groups. The challenge is to understand how demand for regulation is generated and what is likely to lead to sustained change. Three factors are identified as critical in incentivising and enabling pro-change players to effect change: availability of information on the deficiencies and biases of the status quo e.g. disasters with the potential to act as “demonstration effects” that pushes outside players to react and seek change; presence of a viable common interest players that are able to reduce coordination costs especially where such costs are likely to be prohibitive; and, the ability of groups to forge new ideas that would persuade other players to support regulatory change. 

With these ideas established the rest of the book effectively uses a wide variety of case studies to demonstrate how the framework helps fits with real world experience. The case studies are particularly helpful in illustrating how the framework differs from well established approach to global regulation e.g. the “realist view” that approaches regulation as principally driven by the dominant power.

Although the book is generally well researched, it could have benefited from additional refinements. In terms of substance, there’s an underlying presumption that outside driven change is always positive, which has led to minimal discussion of the “desirability of change” or discussions of where regulatory change can lead to worse outcomes. For example, corporate social responsibility (CSR), which has grown into a strong movement, is treated as largely positive. This contrasts with the experience of many other nations where CSR is creating perverse incentives, with many multinational firms using it as informal bribe to locals to prevent them from demanding reasonable taxes. It’s therefore not obvious that regulation of any kind pushed by outside groups would necessarily lead to superior outcomes. In many cases it might be undesirable. What is crucial is to understand what leads to positive or desirable outcomes, rather than merely any change. In terms of presentation, whilst the varieties of case studies presented are helpful in bringing the ideas to life, the discussion is often repetitive with little extension beyond the foundational framework. This has meant that where areas can be developed these are not fully discussed. 

However, taken together the book represents a great contribution to understanding global regulation. Indeed, although written primarily from a global perspective the reflections will also benefit those interested in national regulation issues.

Copyright © Chola Mukanga 2020

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

I am what I am by Gloria Gaynor

Beverly Knight closed the opening ceremony of the Paralympics with what has been dubbed the signature tune of the Paralympics. I had no idea Ms Knight is still in the singing business. And clearly going by the raving reviews she will continue to be around. One media source says her performance was so electric that "there wasn’t a dry eye to be seen as she sang the lyrics to the song and people even watching at home felt the passion in her words" . The song was Gloria Gaynor's I am what I am . Clearly not written by Gloria Gaynor but certainly musically owned and popularized by her. It opens triumphantly: I am what I am / I am my own special creation / So come take a look / Give me the hook or the ovation / It's my world that I want to have a little pride in / My world and it's not a place I have to hide in / Life's not worth a damn till you can say I am what I am The words “I am what I am” echo over ten times in the song. A bold declaration that she

The Price of Obedience

If we obey God it is going to cost other people more than it costs us, and that is where the sting comes in. If we are in love with our Lord, obedience does not cost us anything, it is a delight, but it costs those who do not love Him a good deal. If we obey God it will mean that other people’s plans are upset, and they will gibe us with it—“You call this Christianity?” We can prevent the suffering; but if we are going to obey God, we must not prevent it, we must let the cost be. - OSWALD CHAMBERS This is by far the hardest thing we are likely to struggle with as we seek to live lives that are totally surrendered to the Lord Jesus Christ. What if obeying God meant that your family members lost a well-known or well-loved circle of acquaintances? Had to move to a smaller house? Drove uglier cars? Wore older clothes? Lived by a weekly rather monthly budget?Accepting this part of obeying God is especially difficult for men or women who are the breadwinners for their families. The c

Workers for Your Joy (A Review)

Workers for your Joy (WFYJ) is about what Christ calls leaders in his church to be and do, particularly the teaching office in the church (i.e. pastor or elder).  It presents a biblical vision of leadership by going through the fifteen qualifications of elders listed 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. The central question Mathis is basically asking is – how should we pastor or lead the church in light of these qualifications? The target audience of the book seems to be those who are in the early stages of pastoral ministry. The book was part of the seminary syllabus at Bethlehem. However, the author does explicitly state that the book is also meant to be of use to church members in considering what Christ expects of leadership in the local church.   Mathis has written this book because he believes leadership has fallen on hard times. The church in the west and the society around us has become increasingly discontent with being led due to the high-profile cases that have sprung about leadership.