Introduction

As globalization has proceeded apace in recent decades, so too has the development of new regulatory institutions that establish rules and standards aimed at shaping business behaviour. Certain institutional arrangements associated with industry or corporate self-regulation, as well as international law governing trade, investment and property rights, directly reinforce or legitimize particular approaches to development and globalization grounded on economic liberalization. ¹ The focus of this book is another category of institutions, which (1) are concerned with setting standards associated with social and environmental dimensions of business behaviour, as well as aspects of ‘good governance’, including transparency, participation and accountability; and (2) involve non-state actors (for example, firms, business and industry associations, trade unions and non-governmental organizations (NGOs)) as central players in some or all aspects of regulation, broadly understood. These include agenda-setting, design, implementation, enforcement, oversight, assessment, review and redress. Various labels have been used to describe these forms of ‘private’, ‘civil’, ‘non-state’, ‘co-regulatory’ or - the term used here - ‘multistakeholder regulation’, which simply expresses the fact that, in practice, particular initiatives tend to involve multiple actors in one or several regulatory functions.