Law 798: Global Business Regulation

This seminar will examine the proliferating sources of “new governance” regulating global businesses, concentrating on environmental, social and governance standards being developed by the United Nations, the OECD, the ILO, ISO, stock exchange listing standards, government-convened voluntary standards bodies, multi-stakeholder standards creators, industry self-regulation, and company codes of conduct, as well as third-party certification of compliance.  Critical literature raising issues of democratic accountability, legitimacy, efficacy, and concerns over state sovereignty will be emphasized, as will the developing “corporate accountability” processes seeking to develop binding standards to replace industry or company self-regulation.  The course will be evaluated based on the following method:  80% will be assessed by a seminar paper looking at one particular industry, evaluating the  new governance standards being developed in light of the theoretical and critical literature; and one-page weekly reflection papers will constitute the remaining 20%.

 

Sequence and Prerequisites: None.