Institution Building across Borders
Overview
Law and Legitimacy
Sigrid Quack
While the legitimacy of law in the nation-state context has been closely linked to state authority, the recognition of and compliance to legal norms in the transnational realm are based on much more complex interactions between private and public actors. As a rule, transnational law consists of fragmented and often overlapping control systems in which various actors lay claim to the power to define and implement. How and under what conditions do legal standards and norms achieve legitimacy in a context characterized by both institutional and decision-making ambiguity? Is legal legitimacy based on principles of democratic representativity or the expertise of private actors? Or is the compliance and implementation of transnational legal norms more a question of exerting power? This theory-oriented project treats these and related questions in a discussion of concepts from political science, sociology, and law. The project is divided into two parts. For the first part, labeled "Commercial Law as an Institution to Coordinate Action," a systematic analysis of the literature was conducted. The results were published in a contribution to the "Oxford Handbook of Comparative Institutional Analysis." In the second part, scholars from several disciplines compared various concepts of legitimacy at an international meeting on the topic "Law and Legitimacy in the Governance of Transnational Economic Relations" in June 2008. The special issue of the Socio-Economic Review that emerged from this meeting systematizes this comparison and suggests a typology for the legitimacy of law in the transnational context.
Project duration: October 2007 to September 2010.
Botzem, Sebastian, Jeanette Hofmann, Sigrid Quack, Gunnar Folke Schuppert and Holger Straßheim (2009): Die Dynamik des Governance-Ansatzes: Vier Dimensionen im Wandel. In: Botzem, Sebastian, Jeanette Hofmann, Sigrid Quack, Gunnar Folke Schuppert and Holger Straßheim (eds.): Governance als Prozess. Koordinationsformen im Wandel. Baden-Baden: Nomos, 11–28.
Botzem, Sebastian, Jeanette Hofmann, Sigrid Quack, Gunnar Folke Schuppert and Holger Straßheim (eds.) (2009): Governance als Prozess: Koordinationsformen im Wandel. Nomos: Baden-Baden.
Djelic, Marie-Laure and Sigrid Quack (2005): Adaptation, Recombination and Reinforcement: The Story of Antitrust and Competition Law in Germany and Europe. In: Streeck, Wolfgang and Kathleen Thelen (eds.): Change and Continuity in Institutional Analysis: Explorations in the Dynamics of Advanced Political Economies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 255–281.
Morgan, Glenn and Sigrid Quack (2005): Institutional Legacies and Firm Dynamics: The Growth and Internationalization of British and German Law Firms. In: Organization Studies, 26(12): 1765–1785.
Morgan, Glenn and Sigrid Quack (2006): Global Networks or Global Firms? The Organizational Implications of the Internationalization of Law Firms. In: Ferner, Anthony, Javier Quintanilla and Carlos Sánchez-Runde (eds.): Multinationals, Institutions and the Construction of Transnational Practices: Convergence and Diversity in the Global Economy. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, 213–238.
Morgan, Glenn and Sigrid Quack (2006): The Internationalisation of Professional Service Firms: Global Convergance, National Path-Depencency or Cross-Border Hybidisation? In: Greenwood, Royston and Roy Suddaby (eds.): Professional Service Firms. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 403–431.
Morgan, Glenn and Sigrid Quack (2010): Law as a Governing Institution. In: Morgan, Glenn, et al. (Hrsg.): The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Institutional Analysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 275–308.
Quack, Sigrid (2006): Who Fills the Legal “Black Holes” in Transnational Governance? Lawyers, Law Firms and Professional Associations as Border-crossing Regulatory Actors. In: Schuppert, Gunnar Folke (ed.): Global Governance and the Role of Non-State Actors. Baden-Baden: Nomos, 81–100.
Quack, Sigrid (2007): Legal Professionals and Transnational Law-Making: A Case of Distributed Agency. In: Organization, 14(5): 643–666.
Quack, Sigrid (2009): Governance durch Praktiker. In: Botzem, Sebastian, et al. (eds.): Governance als Prozess: Koordinationsformen im Wandel. Baden-Baden: Nomos, 575–606.
Quack, Sigrid (2010): Law, Expertise and Legitimacy in Transnational Economic Governance: An Introduction. In: Socio-Economic Review, 8(1): 3–16.
Quack, Sigrid (Guest Ed.) (2010): Law, Expertise and Legitimacy in Transnational Economic Governance. In: Socio-Economic Review Special Issue, 8(1).
Transnational Communities
Sigrid Quack and Marie-Laure Djelic (ESSEC Business School Paris)
In addition to international organizations and global networks, the literature refers increasingly to transnational communities as actors setting transboundary rules and standards. This project aims to publish a critical, empirical, and conceptual examination of the concept of "transnational communities" and to develop it further. Transnational communities are social groups with a minimum of subjective and objective communitarization transcending the borders of national societies. The essays in the forthcoming edited volume examine the extent to which transnational communities have actually developed in the current phase of globalization, what distinguishes them from other communities, and their impact on structures of coordination and governance. The editors analyze these questions in cooperation with an international team of authors that includes members of professional, special interest and discourse communities that are transnational.
Project duration: July 2007 to June 2010.
Djelic, Marie-Laure and Sigrid Quack (2008): Institutions and Transnationalisation. In: Greenwood, Royston , Christine Oliver, Kerstin Sahlin-Andersson and Roy Suddaby (eds.): Handbook of Organisational Institutionalism. Los Angeles: Sage, 299-323.
Djelic, Marie-Laure and Sigrid Quack (2009): When “Mercury” Goes Global: The Role and Fate of “Messengers” and “Mediators.” In: Wedlin, Linda, Kerstin Sahlin and Maria Grafström (eds.): Exploring the Worlds of Mercury and Minerva: Essays for Lars Engwall. Uppsala: Universitetstryckeriet, 135–150.
Djelic, Marie-Laure and Sigrid Quack (eds.) (2010): Transnational Communities: Shaping Global Economic Governance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Djelic, Marie-Laure and Sigrid Quack (2010): Conclusion: Transnational Communities and Their Impact on the Governance of Business and Economic Activity. In: Djelic, Marie Laure and Sigrid Quack (eds.): Transnational Communities: Shaping Global Economic Governance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 377–413.
Detail-Info
Djelic, Marie-Laure and Sigrid Quack (2010): Introduction: Transnational Communities and Governance. In: Djelic, Marie-Laure and Sigrid Quack (eds.): Transnational Communities: Shaping Global Economic Governance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 3–36
Djelic, Marie-Laure and Sigrid Quack (2011): The Power of "Limited Liability": Transnational Communities and Cross-Border Governance. In: Marquis, Christopher, Michael Lounsbury and Royston Greenwood (eds.): Communities and Organizations. (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 33.) Bingley, UK: Emerald, 79-109.
Detail-Info
Outstanding Author Contribution Award Winner at the Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence 2012. Further Information
Djelic, Marie-Laure and Sigrid Quack (2012): Transnational Governance through Standard Setting: The Role of Transnational Communities. In: Morgan, Glenn and Richard Whitley (eds.): Capitalism and Capitalisms in the 21st century. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 166–189.
Djelic, Marie-Laure and Sigrid Quack (2012): Transnational Governance through Standard Setting: The Role of Transnational Communities. In: Morgan, Glenn and Richard Whitley (eds.): Capitalisms and Capitalism in the Twenty-First Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 116-207.
Detail-Info
Dobusch, Leonhard and Sigrid Quack (2010): Epistemic Communities and Social Movements: Transnational Dynamics in the Case of Creative Commons. In: Djelic, Marie-Laure and Sigrid Quack (eds.): Transnational Communities: Shaping Global Economic Governance. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 226–252.
Also published as MPIfG Discussion Paper 08/8.
Dobusch, Leonhard and Sigrid Quack (2011): Interorganisationale Netzwerke und digitale Gemeinschaften: Von Beiträgen zu Beteiligung? In: Managementforschung, 21: 171-213
Quack, Sigrid (2009): Nationale Vielfalt als Ressource: Die Internationalisierung europäischer Rechtsanwaltskanzleien. In: Sorge, Arndt (ed.): Internationalisierung: Gestaltungschancen statt Globalisierungsschicksal. Sigma, Berlin 2009, 157–174.
Constructing Global Legitimacy: Science, Markets, and Governance in the Cotton Trade
Amy Quark (College of William & Mary)
Economic rules of the game that privilege Western firms and states are facing a crisis of legitimacy. New players in China, India, and Brazil are gaining the economic power to challenge Western dominance, and global social movements are calling for trade rules that account for social and environmental justice. This crisis could breed isolationism, but instead it is triggering new forms of cooperation as private, state and civil society actors tackle a range of issues, from the harmonization of quality standards to the enforceability of contracts across borders. This raises critical questions. How do powerful actors construct governance institutions that are accepted as legitimate and are thus enforceable? Why do the emerging non-Western corporate elite and their state allies, as well as more marginalized firms and states, accept or reject the authority of transnational governance networks? This project addresses these issues by analyzing transnational governance negotiations in the cotton trade. Combining institutionalist and political economic approaches, this research places governance-in-the-making in its historical and institutional context through an analysis of qualitative interviews in China, the U.S. and Benin, participant observation in international industry conferences in England and Brazil, trade statistics, and primary documentsProject duration at the MPIfG: January to July 2011.
Quark, Amy (2008): Toward a New Theory of Change: Socio-Natural Regimes and the Historical Development of the Cotton Textiles Commodity Chain. In: Review: A Journal of the Fernand Braudel Center, 16 (1).
Quark, Amy (2011): Scientized Politics and Global Governance in the Cotton Trade: Evaluating Divergent Theories of Scientization. In: Review of International Political Economy. iFirst, 1-23.
Quark, Amy (2011): Global Governance as Contested Institution-Building: Transnational Corporations, China and Contract Rules in the Cotton Trade. In: Politics and Society, 39: 3-39.
Quark, Amy (in press): Global Rivalries: Standards Wars and the Kings of Cotton. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
From Global Standards to Local Practices: A Study of the Forest Stewardship Council certification program in Russia
Olga Malets (Technische Universität München)
The project investigates the local unfolding and local impact of transnational private programs seeking to regulate corporate environmental and social behaviour of firms in a global economy. It focuses on the recursive processes of enactment and implementation of transnational private standards of corporate environmental and social responsibility in local contexts. Specifically, the project analyses the case of the Forest Stewardship Council, a transnational nongovernmental organization that designed global principles and criteria of good forest management and a system of certification of complying firms. In the FSC forest certification system, in order to be implemented global principles need to be adapted to a local natural and social context. The project shows that no matter how different and inappropriate local practices, laws and regulations may appear to be, skilful local activists navigating between different levels and nodes in a patchy system of transnational natural resource governance use local institutions and practices as a resource and facilitate the translation of global norms into local practices.
Olga Maletz worked on this project as a graduate student at the International Max Planck Research School in October 2005-January 2009 and as post-doctoral fellow in the working group “Cross-Border Institution-Building” in February-September 2009. With Sigrid Quack and Sabrina Zajak, she is currently looking into identifying similarities in the local unfolding of transnational environmental and labour standards.
Malets, Olga (2009): Nachhaltige Forstwirtschaft in einer Globalisierten Welt. In: MPIfG Jahrbuch 2009-2010, Cologne: Max-Planck-Institute for the Study of Societies, 71-78.
Malets, Olga (2009). The Impact of Transnational Private Regulation: A Case Study of Forest Certification in Russia. Dissertation, University of Cologne.
Malets, Olga (2009): Terrence C. Halliday und Bruce G. Carruthers: Bankrupt: Global Lawmaking and Systemic Financial Crisis. A book review. In: Economic Sociology - the European Electronic Newsletter, 11(2): 56-57.
Malets, Olga (2010): From Transnational Voluntary Standards to Local Practices. A Case Study of Forest Certification in Russia. MPIfG Discussion Paper 11/7.
Malets, Olga and Maria Tysiatchniouk (2009): The Effect of Expertise on the Quality of Forest Standards Implementation: The Case of FSC Forest Certification in Russia. In: Forest Policy and Economics, 11(5-6): 422-428.