CYIL Vol. 5, 2014

SANDERIJN DUQUET – JAN WOUTERS CYIL 5 ȍ2014Ȏ On the Authors: Sanderijn Duquet is PhD Fellow at the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO), the Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies and the Institute for International Law, KU Leuven. JanWouters is Full Professor of International Law and JeanMonnet Chair ad personam, Director, Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies – Institute for International Law, KU Leuven and Visiting Professor, College of Europe (Bruges), Sciences Po (Paris) and Luiss University (Rome). 1. Introduction Public and private actors increasingly interact in transnational settings, where they are bringing about a web of transnational rules, regulations and standards on issues as diverse as finance, investment, competition, health, food, social issues, human rights and information technology. 1 These processes all form part of global governance, the study of which draws on interactions across borders among states, citizens, societies and markets. 2 Global governance studies show that the analysis of transnational interactions is an arduous undertaking, partly because of the involvement of a high number of actors at various levels. These include, together with states and sub-state entities, intergovernmental organizations, government agencies, private actors, business enterprises and NGOs. 3 Furthermore, governance on an international level is constantly evolving: State and non-state actors opt in or out of global initiatives and flexibly endorse dynamic standards and declarations. 4 These processes are also relevant for present-day legal scholarship, as they challenge long-standing doctrines of international law. While in many areas international frameworks (multilateral treaties, intergovernmental organizations…) have been well- established for years, it is remarkable that regulators have resorted to less institutionalized forms of lawmaking and governance to engage in interaction across national borders. 1 Koppell, J., World Rule. Accountability, Legitimacy, and the Design of Global Governance , Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010, p. 15. 2 Global governance has been defined as ‘the complex of formal and informal institutions, mechanisms, relationships, and processes between and among states, markets, citizens and organizations (…) through which collective interests are articulated, rights and obligations are established, and differences are mediated’ in Thakur, R., Van Langenhove, L., “Enhancing Global Governance through Regional Integration” In: Cooper, A.F., Hughes, Ch., De Lombaerde, Ph. (eds), Regionalisation and Global Governance. The Taming of Globalisation?. London: Routledge, 2008, pp. 17-42, at 20; See also Weiss and Thakur’s definition of global governance: ‘Global governance is the sum of laws, norms, policies, and institutions that define, constitute, and mediate relations among citizens, society, markets, and the state in the international arena – the wielders and objects of international public power’, Weiss, T. G., Thakur, R., Global Governance and the UN: An Unfinished Journey . Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2010, p. 6. 3 Wallach, L., “Accountable Governance in the Era of Globalization: TheWTO, NAFTA, and International Harmonization of Standards”, University of Kansas Law Review , 2001-2002, Vol. 50, No. 3, pp. 823-866, at 836-837. 4 Piilola, A., “AssessingTheories of Global Governance: a Case Study of International Antitrust Regulation”, Stanford Journal of International Law , 2003, Vol. 39, No. 2, pp. 207-252, at 207.