ABSTRACT
This chapter looks beyond the specific topics of this volume - labour standards, corporate social responsibility, and the environment-to examine more broadly the use of hard and soft law in a range of intergovernmental institutions. Some of these institutions are based on hard law, that is, on rule-based systems, and some on soft law, that is, on voluntary co-operation. Two major examples of the first type - the European Union and the World Trade Organization (WTO) -will be compared with two major examples of the second - the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the G7/8 summit. Such a comparison leads to the conclusion that hard law and soft law are not alternatives. Rather, they serve different purposes and complement one another.
