Accountability-by-Proxy in Transnational Non-State Governance

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Koenig-Archibugi, Mathias; Macdonald, Kate
• 署名单位: University of London; London School Economics & Political Science; University of Melbourne
• 刊物名称: GOVERNANCE-AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF POLICY ADMINISTRATION AND INSTITUTIONS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0952-1895
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0491.2012.01609.x
• 发表日期: 2013
• 关键词: private governance; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; labor standards; ORGANIZATIONS; POLITICS; BUSINESS; WORLD

摘要

Transnational non-state governance arrangements (NGAs) are increasingly common in areas such as labor standards and environmental sustainability, often presenting themselves as innovative means through which the lives of marginalized communities in developing countries can be improved. Yet in some cases, the policy interventions adopted by the managers of these NGAs appear not to be welcomed by their supposed beneficiaries. This article accounts for this predicament by examining the effects of different configurations of accountability within NGAs promoting labor rights. Most labor-rights NGAs incorporate proxy accountability arrangements, in which consumers and activists hold decision makers accountable on behalf of the putative beneficiaries of the NGAs: workers and affected communities in poorer countries. The article shows how and why different combinations of proxy versus beneficiary accountability influence the choice of policy instruments used by NGAs, and applies the argument to three prominent non-state initiatives in the domain of labor standards.