Finance

Physics

Sociology

Governmentality

Transnational governance

Corporate governance

Economic growth

Politics

Algorithm

Private sector

Hegemony

Intermediary

Political science

Economics

Power (physics)

Private finance initiative

Law and economics

Legitimation

Intermediation

Computer science

Quantum mechanics

Public administration

State (computer science)

New Political Economy

Corporations, NGOs, and private regulatory initiatives have taken on functions once assumed to be the domain of the state and inter-governmental organisations. While researchers are racing to assess the impacts of private rules, theoretical statements remain focused on the design, legitimation, and intermediation of private initiatives or the hegemony of neoliberal governance. This paper instead highlights the grounded practices of transnational private regulation, and it argues that much about these practices can be explained through a straightforward (but multi-faceted) analysis of power. Specifically, unpacking the practice of private regulation requires a focus on (1) the distinctive power struggles that animate different types of standard-setting projects (which should not be reduced to a single logic), (2) the saturation of private regulation with corporate power (not merely the capture of particular intermediaries), and (3) the construction of compliance in ways that accommodate state powers at the point of implementation. These points are illustrated with examples from research on private rules for land and labour and accounts of standards wars more generally.

Power and the Practice of Transnational Private Regulation