The Challenge of Transnational Private Regulation: Conceptual and Constitutional Debates

Abstract

There has been an exponential growth of transnational private regulatory regimes in recent years, with a corresponding increase in the complexity of legal and political implications. This book presents the first extensive treatment of the constitutional dimensions of transnational private regulation, including its sources of power and modes of accountability. Building on established strands in the literature addressing ‘private power’ and ‘public/global authority,’ essays explore the conceptual bases on which these distinctions have been built. Contributions from international experts analyze the influence of globalization on national legal orders, examining different regimes in the light of both vertical (private global/public-local) and horizontal (public/private global) complementarity. Readings move beyond previous considerations of global regulation that focus on an elaboration of traditional public law modes of governance by pointing to alternatives rooted in market and community activities, and revealing the potential for reconceptualising the effects of networks in governing network participants. This approach addresses the shift from hierarchical to heterarchic governance and recognises the need to re-conceptualize the bases of legitimacy for such regimes at both the national and supranational level. The Challenge of Transnational Private Regulation offers illuminating insights into an emerging form of governance in the twenty-first century world.