NGO Power in Global Social and Environmental Standard-Setting

Magnus Boström and Kristina Tamm Hallström
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Magnus Boström: Magnus Boström is Associate Professor in Sociology and Lecturer in Environmental Science at the School of Life Sciences, Södertörn University, Sweden. Boström studies environmental organizations, environmental governance, policy-making, rule-setting, certification, and green political consumerism in various sectors. Recent publications include Organizing Transnational Accountability, co-edited with Christina Garsten (2008); Eco-Standards, Product Labelling, and Green Consumerism, co-authored with Mikael Klintman (2008); and Transnational Multi-Stakeholder Standardization, co-authored with Kristina Tamm Hallström (2010).
Kristina Tamm Hallström: Kristina Tamm Hallström is Associate Professor and Lecturer in Management at the Stockholm School of Economics, and Research Director at Stockholm Centre for Organizational Research (Score). She has published internationally on the establishment of authority within transnational standard-setting processes, with investigations into such areas as financial accounting, quality management, and corporate social responsibility. Recent publications include Organizing International Standardization (2004), "Standardization, globalization and rationalities of government," co-authored with Winton Higgins (Organization, 2007), and Transnational Multi-Stakeholder Standardization, coauthored with Magnus Boström (2010).

Global Environmental Politics, 2010, vol. 10, issue 4, 36-59

Abstract: We have seen a worldwide increase in new nonstate, multi-stakeholder organizations setting standards for socially and environmentally responsible behavior. These standard-setting arenas offer new channels for political participation for NGOs. Scholars have drawn attention to the rise and the role of NGOs in global politics, but there is less research on the power and long-term implications of NGO participation in transnational multi-stakeholder standard-setting. This article analyzes NGOs within three such global organizations: the Forest Stewardship Council, the Marine Stewardship Council, and the International Organization for Standardization on Social Responsibility. Using a power-based perspective, we demonstrate the impact that NGOs can have on multi-stakeholder work. In doing so, we analyze four types of NGO power: symbolic, cognitive, social, and monitoring power. The article further emphasizes institutional, structural, and discursive factors within multi-stakeholder organizations that create certain challenges to NGO power and participation in the longer term. (c) 2010 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Date: 2010
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