Close
Voluntary Standard-Setting in Global Governance
15 December 2016
An interview with Axel Marx, Deputy Director of the Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies at University of Leuven.
What does you research on global governance currently focus on?
My main research focus is on voluntary sustainability standards. We all come across these standards on a regular basis: Many products have labels and certificates indicating that they have been produced in a fair or sustainable manner, complying with labour rights, etc. I try to understand why and how these private systems of standard setting and certification emerge, how they operate, how effective they are and also how legitimate they are.
Where do you see the most exciting debates happening in the field right now?
I am closely following debates on how global trade can be made more sustainable. Voluntary standards are one possible way forward but trade agreements between nations or between regional blocks can also help promote more sustainable trade. The question is how to ensure that these trade agreements contain chapters devoted to sustainability. Sometimes this involves pressure, with the EU or the US essentially forcing other countries to ensure their production processes are sustainable. There are a lot of interesting debates on how this type of regulatory action is taking shape, how is it implemented and what other effects are coming out of it.
Going forward what is the biggest challenge for global governance research? What are we currently missing?
One challenge is the lack of empirical data on the various types of global governance institutions. Classical political scientists can draw on large statistical databases for their research. Global governance, however, is mostly based on case studies and there is, of course, the question how representative these case studies are.
In addition to better data collection, I think we also need more theoretic integration to better understand various specific aspects of global governance, for instance: Why do we observe the emergence of new types of governance? What is driving this trend? Once these new types of governance have emerged, how do they develop further? Are they internationally accepted and, if so, why? How do different governance systems connect and interact with one another on the global level?
This interview was conducted by Kate艡ina Tolarov谩 (MSc Global Governance and Ethics)聽at the inaugural Global Governance International Network Meeting hosted by the Global Governance Institute in November 2016.
is Deputy Director of the Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies, University of Leuven. He studied in Leuven, Hull and Cambridge and holds a PhD from the University of Leuven. His research focuses on global governance, sustainability standards, non-state market regulation, human rights, trade governance, research methodology, comparative case methods and qualitative comparative analysis (QCA).
