This essential Research Handbook provides a comprehensive and critical assessment of the global governance instruments related to business and human rights from an interdisciplinary perspective. Contributions from a diverse range of leading international scholars offer an overview of the existing literature and rapidly-evolving research discipline, as well as identifying key trends and outlining an ambitious future research agenda. The Research Handbook first examines governance initiatives that operate across economic sectors, discussing both public and private initiatives at state, regional and international levels that seek to develop, implement and enforce rules with regard to the impacts of transnational business activities on human rights. Chapters then investigate particular economic sectors – including textiles, electronics, agro-chemical, construction, and finance – to assess the ways in which different initiatives attempt to mitigate risks and address business-related human rights abuses. Scholars of law, regulatory governance, global governance, management, human rights and social sciences who are interested in gaining a deeper understanding of the emerging business and human rights regime will find this Research Handbook a crucial read. It will also prove a useful and thorough introduction for students, scholars and practitioners new to the field of business and human rights.

This essential Research Handbook provides a comprehensive and critical assessment of the global governance instruments related to business and human rights from an interdisciplinary perspective. Contributions from a diverse range of leading international scholars offer an overview of the existing literature and rapidly-evolving research discipline, as well as identifying key trends and outlining an ambitious future research agenda. The Research Handbook first examines governance initiatives that operate across economic sectors, discussing both public and private initiatives at state, regional and international levels that seek to develop, implement and enforce rules with regard to the impacts of transnational business activities on human rights. Chapters then investigate particular economic sectors - including textiles, electronics, agro-chemical, construction, and finance - to assess the ways in which different initiatives attempt to mitigate risks and address business-related human rights abuses. Scholars of law, regulatory governance, global governance, management, human rights and social sciences who are interested in gaining a deeper understanding of the emerging business and human rights regime will find this Research Handbook a crucial read. It will also prove a useful and thorough introduction for students, scholars and practitioners new to the field of business and human rights.

Global governance emerged as a concept more than two decades ago. Despite its relevance to key processes underlying the major public policy questions of our age, the contours of 'global governance' remain contested and elusive. This Research Review seeks to clarify key trends and challenges in global governance by bringing together the leading scholarship on its different forms. The Research Review discusses key issues in relation to global governance institutions: democracy, legitimacy, accountability, fragmentation, effectiveness and dispute settlement.

Wielded by major economic powers, linkages between trade and such issues as environmental protection and human rights have become a widely used and controversial policy instrument. This volume provides a comprehensive and authoritative analysis, across issue-areas, of the European Union's deployment of trade to advance its normative goals.' - Miles Kahler, Council on Foreign Relations'The EU treaties call for the EU to promote its core values internationally. Trade is one instrument to do so: linking preferential access to the large EU market to convergence towards EU or internationally agreed norms. The volume offers an insightful discussion of the scope for, and the effectiveness of, EU trade linkage strategies to influence the labour, environmental and human rights-related policies of selected trade partners. It advances the state of our knowledge on a controversial and important subject.' - Bernard Hoekman, EUI and CEPR, Italy A 'new generation' of EU trade policies aims to advance public goods such as promoting sustainable development, protecting human rights and enhancing governance in third states. The pursuit of these objectives raises important questions regarding coherence, effectiveness, legitimacy and extraterritoriality. In Global Governance through Trade leading scholars from different disciplines address these topical questions. The book contains a comprehensive analysis of the concept of governing through trade and investigates how the EU 'exports' regulation through conditional market access regulation, bilateral trade agreements and unilateral trade policy. Several case studies complement the general analysis and provide an in-depth assessment of the European Union's new trade policies. This multidisciplinary book will be an enlightening read for a wide-ranging audience encompassing academics, policymakers, policy analysts and students of, amongst others, trade law and policy, global governance, sustainable development, human rights and labor standards. Contributors: L. Bartels, L. Beke, N.A.J. Croquet, C. Damro, D. Geraets, N. Hachez, M. Koekkoek, J. Larik, R. Leal-Arcas, A. Marx, P.C. Mavroidis, B. Natens, C. Ryngaert, J. Soares, G. van Calster, C.M. Wilmarth, J. Wouters, J. Yap

Private regulatory initiatives aim to govern supply chains across the globe according to a set of environmental, food safety and/or social standards. Until now, literature on the topic has been fragmented and divided by research fields. However, this unique and comprehensive book bridges these disciplinary and thematic research lines, bringing together an interdisciplinary group of leading scholars to identify key issues. The expert contributors assess the state-of-the-art with regard to private regulation of food, natural resources and labour conditions. They begin with an introduction to, and discussion of, several leading existing private standards, and go on to assess private food standards and their legitimacy and effectiveness in the context of the global trade regime. This truly multidisciplinary assessment of the scope and importance of private standards as a governance tool in a globalizing world will prove to be an enlightening read for a wide-ranging audience encompassing: academics, students, researchers, policymakers and analysts focusing on private forms of governance in several sectors including economics, law, politics, development, environment and agriculture. Contributors: E. Becault, F. Cafaggi, L. Colen, L. Cuyvers, T. De Meyer, N. Hachez, S. Henson, J. Humphrey, M. Maertens, A. Marx, J. Swinnen, G.H. Stanton, F. van Waarden, J. Wouters

Global Governance of Labour Rights provides an outstanding collection of essays examining how international trade relations, trade agreements and non-state actors influence labour rights governance. This well-crafted, coherent, and thoughtful volume will make important contributions to the ongoing debates on the regulation and enforcement of labour rights.' - Aseem Prakash, University of Washington, Seattle, US'The Editors have managed to make, through this volume, a major contribution to the on-going discussion regarding the 'internationalization' of labour rights. Their single most important achievement is that they have produced a coherent 'whole' out of many heterogeneous parts. Both the intra-EU, as well as the international dimension, are skillfully debated in a volume that does not simply view the former as a hothouse for the latter, but discusses the interactions of the two orders in the most systematic way.' - Petros C. Mavroidis, Columbia Law School, New York City, US 'This excellent collection of essays provides fresh transnational and critical perspectives on the often ignored topic of labour rights. Ugly reports of collapsed factories and buried workers, of slave-like conditions among migrants and children, continue to horrify readers and viewers worldwide. What can be done? This book contains some long-awaited answers.' - Thomas G. Weiss, The City University of New York's Graduate Center, US 'The bulk of the world's governments and a growing number of firms now say they respect labour rights. Yet scholars, activists and policymakers have little understanding of the effectiveness of ILO conventions and government initiatives. In this important and well-written book, we get answers to many of the most pressing questions about how governments and private sector actors can advance labour rights and conditions. Kudos to Marx, Wouters, Rayp and Beke for a must-read book.' - Susan Ariel Aaronson, Research Professor of International Affairs and Director eBay policy scholars, Elliot School, GWU Stories and images of collapsed factories, burned down sweatshops, imprisoned migrant workers, child workers and many other violations of internationally recognized labour rights continue to spread across the globe. This highly topical book examines the different instruments which are intended to protect labour rights on a transnational scale, and asks whether they make a difference. With perspectives from law, management, sociology, political science and political economy, the topics discussed include the protection of international labour rights in a globalizing economy, the EU's social dimension in its external trade relations, Asian and US perspectives on labour rights in international trade agreements, the role of (trade) unions in global labour governance and the transformative capacity of private labour governance regimes. Academics and advanced students from different disciplines will benefit from the up-to-date empirical material in this study. Policymakers, NGOs and Unions will find the discussions of the instruments used to protect labour rights of great value to their work. Contributors: L. Beke, R.C. Brown, R. Coervers, Y. Dahan, J. Donaghey, P. Glasbergen, F. Hendrickx, D. Klink, S. Koch-Baumgarten, M. Kryst, H. Lerner, A. Marx, F. Milman-Sivan, A.-G. 'Tobi' Oshodi, P. Pecinovsky, C. Pekdemir, G. Rayp, J. Reinecke, J. Soares, W. Van Acker, L. Van den Putte, P. van der Heijden, S. Velluti, J. Wouters, R. Zandvliet

Changing Borders in Europe focuses on the territorial dimension of the European Union. It examines the transformation of state sovereignty within the EU, the emergence of varied self-determination claims, and the existence of a tailor-made architecture of functional borders, established by multiple agreements. This book helps to understand how self-determination pressures within the EU are creating growing concerns about member states' identity, redefining multi-level government in the European space. It addresses several questions regarding two transformative processes - blurring of EU borders and state sovereignty shifts - and their interrelations from different disciplinary perspectives such as political science, law, political economy and sociology. In addition, it explores how the variable geographies of European borders may affect the issue of national self-determination in Europe, opening spaces for potential accommodations that could be compatible with existing states and legal frameworks. This book will be of key interest for scholars, students and practitioners of EU politics, public administration, political theory, federalism and more broadly of European studies, international law, ethnic studies, political economy and the wider social sciences.

This open access book is an outcome of the EU's Horizon 2020 project 'Financial and Institutional Reforms for an Entrepreneurial Society' (FIRES). Building on historical, economic and legal analysis, and combining methods and data across disciplines, the authors provide policymakers, stakeholders and scholars with valuable new tools for assessing and improving Europe's entrepreneurial ecosystems. Then experts from Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom discuss tailored strategies for introducing entrepreneurial policy reforms in their respective countries.

Some 20 years after the emergence of configurational theory as a key perspective in organization studies in the 1990s, this approach has yet to deliver on its promise. While we know that configurations the relative arrangement of parts and elements - matters, empirical research on configurations is just beginning to deliver on its promise.

Changing Borders in Europe focuses on the territorial dimension of the European Union. It examines the transformation of state sovereignty within the EU, the emergence of varied self-determination claims, and the existence of a tailor-made architecture of functional borders, established by multiple agreements. This book helps to understand how self-determination pressures within the EU are creating growing concerns about member states' identity, redefining multi-level government in the European space. It addresses several questions regarding two transformative processes - blurring of EU borders and state sovereignty shifts - and their interrelations from different disciplinary perspectives such as political science, law, political economy and sociology. In addition, it explores how the variable geographies of European borders may affect the issue of national self-determination in Europe, opening spaces for potential accommodations that could be compatible with existing states and legal frameworks. This book will be of key interest for scholars, students and practitioners of EU politics, public administration, political theory, federalism and more broadly of European studies, international law, ethnic studies, political economy and the wider social sciences.

This open access book is an outcome of the EU's Horizon 2020 project 'Financial and Institutional Reforms for an Entrepreneurial Society' (FIRES). Building on historical, economic and legal analysis, and combining methods and data across disciplines, the authors provide policymakers, stakeholders and scholars with valuable new tools for assessing and improving Europe's entrepreneurial ecosystems. Then experts from Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom discuss tailored strategies for introducing entrepreneurial policy reforms in their respective countries.