The public, the private, and the business-societal: A threefold approach to business responsibility for human rights

Mende, Janne

doi:10.4337/9781788973083.00015

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…This is what distinguishes the model of mediation from those of blurring or binaries. Note that what is considered public or private in a given context may vary considerably, but their mutually constitutive relationship remains (Mende, 2020).…”

Section: The Public-private Relationship and Its Extension With The '...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Business authority in global governance: Companies beyond public and private roles

Mende

2022

Journal of International Political Theory

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International studies investigate the governance authority of state versus non-state actors in terms of their public or private authority. However, the public–private distinction does not sufficiently capture the variety of governance actors, or the forms of their authority, beyond that distinction. Focussing on businesses, this paper argues that certain governance actors assume public and private roles, as well as a third category of roles it calls ‘societal’ that transcend notions of public and private. To understand these roles and how they affect governance authority, this paper treats the public–private relationship as mediated and extends it with the ‘societal’ category, then translates it into the concept of business authority, which constitutes a particular form of governance authority alongside public and private authority. It does so by operationalising governance authority as a triadic concept composed of power, legitimacy and a connection to public interests. In all three components, business authority escapes the binary distinction between public and private without simply merging the two.

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Section: The Public-private Relationship and Its Extension With The '...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Business authority in global governance: Companies beyond public and private roles

Mende

2022

Journal of International Political Theory

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“…Global governance scholarship has sufficiently challenged the rigorous dichotomy between the public and the private, and has demonstrated the close connection between private actors and public interests (Cutler, Haufler and Porter 1999;Hall and Biersteker 2002;Ruggie 2004). Accordingly, the triadic concept of authority in global governance includes the private authority of enterprises (Cutler 2018;Fuchs and Lederer 2007;Mende 2020c) and the international public authority of international organizations (Bogdandy, Goldmann and Venzke 2017; Zürn 2018) and norm regimes (Wiener 2018).…”

Section: Authoritymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Yet the connection of business enterprises to public interests is controversial due to the complex involvement of private actors with public interests. This complexity is intensively discussed within the BHR regime and in global governance research, which seeks to transcend the apparent dichotomy between public and private (Crane, Matten and Moon 2008;Cutler 2018;Mende 2020c). This constellation gives the OEIWG the unique chance to distinguish itself from other global governance institutions by developing hybrid approaches that accommodate public and private roles, without simply blending or merging them.…”

Section: The (Re-)construction Of Authoritiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The contestation and construction of global governance authorities: A study from the global business and human rights regime

Mende

2021

Glob. Con.

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The contestation of global governance institutions can strengthen or weaken, as well as transform, them. This article analyses the productive potential of contestation and justification of global governance institutions by examining the multiple authorities that are invoked as auxiliaries in the process. It studies the (re-)construction of these authorities by dissecting authority into three components: power, legitimacy and connection to public interests. Empirically, the article focuses on the issue area of business and human rights, examining the highly contested process of drafting a binding instrument in the United Nations Treaty Process. The analysis shows that the success of the Treaty Process not only hinges on its direct reaction to contestation, but also on its ability to (re-)construct the multiple related authorities. Ultimately, the article argues that the contestation of global governance institutions involves (re-)constructing multiple authorities. This demonstrates how contestation can also affect global governance institutions, actors and norms beyond the specific field of deliberation.

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“…The concepts of private and public authority in MLG are backed by understanding the public-private distinction not as dichotomous but internally and externally mediated (Mende 2020b). Public and private are externally mediated in that each side's inclusion is the other side's exclusion, and vice versa.…”

Section: Public and Private Authoritymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, companies cannot only violate but also protect human rights, both in line with or contradictory to their own private interests. This challenges the state-centred human rights regime to address the roles of private actors and to develop hybrid forms of human rights responsibility (Mende 2020b).…”

Section: 1mentioning

confidence: 99%

Private actors, NGOs and civil society in multilevel governance

Mende¹

2021

A Research Agenda for Multilevel Governance

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The public, the private, and the business-societal: A threefold approach to business responsibility for human rights

Cited by 10 publications

References 22 publications

Business authority in global governance: Companies beyond public and private roles

Business authority in global governance: Companies beyond public and private roles

The contestation and construction of global governance authorities: A study from the global business and human rights regime

Private actors, NGOs and civil society in multilevel governance

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