Description
Book SynopsisA rising interdependence among the members of international society and of global civil society has led to an increasing demand for governance without government. The new regulatory mode is characterized as a 'soft law' framework.
The contributors to this book define soft law in terms of legally non-binding rules, such as recommendations, codes of conduct and declarations, though they acknowledge the difficulty sometimes faced in differentiating between hard and soft law, whose boundaries are, in practice, often blurred. Focussing largely on the European experience, the book shows how soft law in the EU has become an important regulatory tool in traditional policy areas, like state aid, and in new policy areas, especially within EU's employment policy. It also extends the analysis to the international stage, arguing that international institutions, such as the OECD, the UN, the IMF and the World Bank, have for decades used soft law as a means, indeed their only means, of regulating international agreements. Comparisons between the two arenas are then drawn and indicate very different roles for soft law.
This book will appeal to scholars of European law and politics as well as those involved with or interested in the policy implications of this mode of governance.
Trade Review'This is a well-structured volume that presents a number of very relevant case studies. . . Soft Law in Governance and Regulation
will be a valuable resource for students of law, political science, sociology, organisational studies and others interested in the broader issues of governance and international institutions.' -- Catherine Lyall, SCRIPT-ed - the Online Law and Technology Journal
'This volume valuably extends our understanding of the increasing use of soft law as an instrument of transnational regulation, and helpfully sets this phenomenon, now so present in the European Union, in its wider comparative context.' -- Helen Wallace, European University Institute, Italy
Table of ContentsContents: Preface 1. Introduction Part I: The Legal Doctrine and Soft Law 2. Soft Law in the State Aid Policy Area 3. The ECJ and Soft Law: Who’s Afraid of the EU Fundamental Rights Charter? 4. Soft Law and International Financial Institutions – Issues of Hard and Soft Law from a Lawyer’s Perspective Part II: Governance through Soft Regulation 5. Between the Deliberation and Discipline: Soft Governance in EU Employment Policy 6. OECD Governance through Soft Law 7. Emergent Cross-Sectional Soft Regulations: Dynamics at Play in the Global Compact Initiative Part III: Democracy and Soft Law 8. Soft Law and Three Notions of Democracy: The Case of the EU Part IV: Meta-Organizations and Soft Law 9. Soft Regulation from an Organizational Perspective 10. Conclusions References Index
