ABSTRACT
The International Code of Conduct for Security Service Providers (ICoC) has taken up the Swiss Initiative’s multi-stakeholder approach to legalization by locating it outside the traditional process for developing and negotiating an international treaty. Chapter 7 traces norm entrepreneurship in the process leading to the ICoC and its oversight body, the ICoC Association (ICoCA). Contrary to existing research, it demonstrates that critical NGO voices were not necessarily co-opted and silenced when they joined these initiatives. Instead, the NGOs involved in the ICoC process retained their willingness and ability to serve as ‘watchdogs’ in creating robust first and second order rules for the PMSC industry. This included strict membership rules for the association, independent third-party certification, in-the-field-monitoring, and a centralized grievance mechanism. At the same time, participation in the ICoC has become a litmus test for the NGO community which was divided on whether or not they should engage in collective norm entrepreneurship with PMSCs.
