Offers an analysis of cooperation between international organizations and private actors in creating transnational regulation.

This book deals with a key feature of globalization: the rise of regulation beyond the state. It examines the emergence of transnational regulatory cooperation between public and private actors and pursues an inquiry that is at once legal, empirical and theoretical. It asks why a private actor and an international organization would regulate cooperatively and what this tells us about the material meaning of concepts such as 'expertise', 'authority' and 'legitimacy' in specific domains of global governance. Additionally, the book addresses the structures and patterns in which cooperation evolves and how this affects the broader global order. It does so through an investigation of two public-private cooperative agreements: one between the International Standards Organization, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the Global Compact and the International Labor Organization and one between the International Olympic Committee and the United Nations Environment Programme.

Offers a new approach to the legal issues raised by the drive for convergence in securities regulation. The author offers an informed and insightful examination of the implications for regulatory and policy design if regulatory convergence were to be rigorously implemented.

This landmark book is the first of its kind to assess the challenges of African region-building and regional integration across all five African sub-regions and more than five decades of experience, considering both political and economic aspects. Leading scholars and practitioners come together to analyze a range of entwined topics, including: the theoretical underpinnings that have informed Africa's regional integration trajectory; the political economy of integration, including the sources of different 'waves' of integration in pan-Africanism and the reaction to neo-liberal economic pressures; the complexities of integration in a context of weak states and the informal regionalization that often occurs in 'borderlands'; the increasing salience of Africa's relationships with rising extra-regional economic powers, including China and India; and comparative lessons from non-African regional blocs, including the EU, ASEAN, and the Southern Common Market. A core argument of this book, running through all chapters, is that region-building must be recognized as a political project as much as if not more than an economic one; successful region-building in Africa will need to include the complex political tasks of strengthening state capacity (including states' capacity as 'developmental states' that can actively engage in economic planning), resolving long-standing conflicts over resources and political dominance, improving democratic governance, and developing trans-national political structures that are legitimate and inclusive.

Credit rating agencies play a powerful and contentious role in the governance of global financial markets. Introducing an original framework for delegating political authority to private actors, this book explains common trends in the regulatory use of private ratings for public purposes and analyzes regulatory changes after the Financial Crisis.

This book, "Neo-Cold War," delves into the concept of the "New Cold War," which encapsulates the essence of modern geopolitics. It is characterized by contemporary geopolitical competition, ideological confrontation, and conflicts reminiscent of the Cold War era. The book offers a detailed analysis of key geopolitical phenomena, strategic challenges, and emerging trends that define the New Cold War era. It explores the complexity of geopolitical competition, the impact of technological development, the role of emerging countries, and the evolving nature of international relations. Addressing current issues such as the rise of China and the resurgence of Russia, climate change, cybersecurity, and pandemics, there is a growing need for informed analysis and strategic prediction. This book is a timely and essential resource for policymakers, scholars, and practitioners seeking to navigate the complexities of the New Cold War era and work towards a more stable, prosperous, and peaceful future.

Concise introductions to the main issues in energy policy and their interaction with environmental policies in the EU. The European Union (EU) faces critical challenges in energy policy making, the most pressing of which are how to achieve the deep greenhouse gas reductions promised at the December 2015 UN Conference of the Parties in Paris, and how this effort can be coordinated with already existing policies. Energy policy is primarily a member state responsibility, and policy makers need an overarching view of the main issues in energy policy and their interaction with environmental policies. This volume aims to fill this need, offering concise introductions to some of the major issues as well as practical suggestions for policy making. The contributors discuss reforms to the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), the world's largest carbon market; ways to improve the operation and integration of the EU's power grids, in terms of both supply and demand; changes to the EU's Energy Tax Directive, which sets tax floors for fuels outside the ETS; the coordination of climate policies with policies to promote renewables and energy efficiency; research into clean technology; challenges to shale gas development; and transportation policy and the need for action on such externalities as traffic congestion. Finally, contributors consider obstacles to reform, including its potential effects on vulnerable households and energy-intensive industries. Contributors Mikael Skou Andersen, Niels Anger, Bruno De Borger, Antoine Dechezleprêtre, Jos Delbeke, Ottmar Edenhofer, Christian Flachsland, Beatriz Gaitan, Polona Gregorin, Cameron Hepburn, Alan Krupnick, Andreas Löschel, Claudio Marcantonini, Felix Christian Matthes, Paul Nahmmacher, Ian Parry, Karen Pittel, David Popp, Stef Proost, Christina Roolfs, Bert Saveyn, Oliver Schenker, Stephen Smith, Alexander Teytelboym, Kurt Van Dender, Herman Vollebergh, Nils-Henrik M. von der Fehr, Zhongmin Wang, Georg Zachmann

This book is the first to provide a critical investigation of EU better regulation from the perspective of EU contract law. The Commission's 'New Deal for EU Consumers' is one of the first EU contract law initiatives to implement both the newly revised Better Regulation Guidelines and the newly introduced combined evaluation of multiple Directives in the form of a 'fitness check'. This offers an opportunity to explore difficulties and best practices at a national level, as demonstrated by experience with the EU's Unfair Terms Directive. Both the fitness check and the impact assessment accompanying the New Deal should facilitate critical reflection on the design of EU contract law. This book addresses key questions. Do impact assessments favour business interests at the expense of a high level of consumer protection? Is the evaluation of EU contract law and the analysis in impact assessments in line with scientific standards? Has the fitness check revealed difficulties and success stories with EU measures at national level, and thereby facilitated an in-depth scrutiny of the design of EU contract law? Ultimately, is the potential of better regulation being realised?

This monograph has two central purposes. The first is to provide a critical analysis of how governmental, private and hybrid product standards are regulated in the GATT/WTO legal framework. The second purpose is to explore – both positively and normatively – the impact that WTO disciplines may have on the composition, function and decision-making process of various standard-setting bodies through the lens of a series of selected case studies, including: the EU eco-labelling scheme; ISO standards; and private standards such as the FSC. The book analyses what role, if any, the WTO may play in making product standards applied in international trade embody not only technological superiority but also substantive and procedural fairness such as deliberation, representativeness, openness, transparency, due process and accountability. Whilst it has been long recognised that voluntary product standards drawn up by both governmental and non-governmental bodies can in practice create trade barriers as serious as mandatory governmental regulations, a rigorous and systematic inquiry into the boundary, relevance and impact of WTO disciplines on product standards is still lacking. Providing a lucid interpretation of the relevant WTO rules and cases on product standards, this book fills this significant gap in WTO law literature. Definitive and comprehensive, this is an essential reference work for scholars and practitioners alike.

The authors emphasize the role of the individual in politics, and the interplay between the personal, the national and the global. This interactive text includes think points, exercises and extracts as well as illustrative material.