Transnational Law Commons^™

Costs And Benefits Of Investment Treaties: Practical Considerations For States, Lise Johnson, Jesse Coleman, Brooke Guven, Lisa E. Sachs

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

This paper analyzes the expected benefits of investment treaties, including: increased inward investment, increased outward investment, and depoliticization of investment disputes. It then considers evidence of the costs of investment treaties, including: litigation, liability, reputational cost, reduced policy space, distorted power dynamics, reduced role for domestic law-making, and uncertainty in the law. The authors set forth practical steps that states can take relating to both existing treaties as well as future treaties with an objective of increasing desired benefits and decreasing unexpected and high costs of investment treaties.

Tax Compliance In A Decentralizing Economy, Manoj Viswanathan

Georgia State University Law Review

Tax compliance in the United States has long relied on information from centralized intermediaries—the financial institutions,employers, and brokers that help ensure income is reported and taxes are paid. Yet while the IRS remains tied to these centralized entities,consumers and businesses are not. New technologies, such as sharing economy platforms (companies such as Airbnb, Uber, and Instacart)and the blockchain (the platform on which various cryptocurrencies are based) are providing new, decentralized options for exchanging goods and services.

Without legislative and agency intervention, these technologies pose a critical threat to the reporting system underlying domestic and international tax compliance. Until now, legal …

Regulatory Cooperation In International Trade And Its Transformative Effects On Executive Power, Elizabeth Trujillo

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

As international trade receives the brunt of local discontent with globalization trends and recent changes by the Trump administration have put into question the viability of such trade arrangements moving forward, there has been a clear trend in using international trade fora for managing regulatory barriers on economic development. This paper will discuss this recent trend in international trade toward increased regulatory cooperation through the creation of formalized transnational regulatory bodies, such as the U.S.-EU Regulatory Cooperation Body that was being discussed in the TTIP negotiations and comparable ones in the Canadian-EU Trade Agreement as well as U.S.-Mexico and U.S.- …

The Public And Its Problems: How The Eu's Capital Market Union Defines The Bounds Of Legitimate Knowledge And Redraws The Boundaries Of (Public) Authority, Timo Walter, Oliver Kessler

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

Recent years have seen increasing theoretical and practical attempts to come to terms with the strains on public authority at the level of transnational regulation and governance. For the most part, these have followed what could be called a strategy of transposition, seeking to install functional equivalents to familiar forms of nation-state or Westphalian public authority. While useful for some analytical purposes, the validity of this strategy depends on the nature of public authority remaining unchanged: the same 'function' is now fulfilled by somebody else. In this article, we argue, in contrast, that the very form of public authority has …

Private International Law's Shadow Contribution To The Question Of Informal Transnational Authority, Horatia M. Watt

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

This contribution attempts to approach informal transnational authority through the lens of critical private international law. It subscribes to the underlying idea within this volume, according to which the workings of the highly complex dynamic between the public and the private are cardinal to understanding contemporary global shifts in transnational authority, placing the rise of informal transnational authority at its epicenter. Expressions of private authority in the global arena take place outside formal legal discourse. Capital expanding beyond state boundaries has organized its own forms of authority, which arbitrate, enforce and legitimize new processes and structures beyond the state. To …

Policing Corruption Post- And Pre-Crime: Collective Action And Private Authority In The Maritime Industry, Hans K. Hansen

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

How are we to understand the proliferating attempts amongst transactional corporations (TNCs) at collectively reducing the risk of corruption in business operations and interactions with state officials around the world? How are these endeavors linked to transformations of public and private authority in the global political economy? Premised on the observation that corruption is globalized and the growing efforts at tackling it equally so, this article draws on the literatures on private authority, governmentality, and criminological studies to explore anticorruption in terms of pre-crime and post-crime policing. The case of the maritime industry is analyzed, including the ways in which …

Shifting Between Public And Private: The Reconfiguration Of Global Environmental Regulation, Orr Karassin, Oren Perez

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

Over the past two centuries, public environmental regulation (PER) has been progressively supplemented by private transnational regulation (PTR), creating a hybrid environmental governance regime. A fivecategory typology is developed to describe the ways in which international and national PER interact with private forms of environmental regulation. We then analyze the policy considerations that are relevant to the design of such hybrid regimes and various forms of interaction. Next, we describe two case studies that demonstrate the diversity of interactions between PER and PTR in a single regime. The case of sustainability reporting illustrates how public law builds on the expertise …

Transnational Private Authority In The Sphere Of Education, Eva Hartmann

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

It seems that an ever-shorter temporal rhythm is gaining ground with the end of the "short twentieth century, 'I challenging the modern temporal horizon. The emerging economy relies on a continuous stream of scientific and technical knowledge closely related to information technology and networks. The increasing compression of both time and space has major consequences for the governance of the economy and the setting of authoritative standards in this sphere. This paper explores the consequences for education and training and its governance, where continuing education has become crucial. It studies the setting of authoritative standards in the field of information …

The Judicialization Of Private Transnational Power And Authority, A. Claire Cutler

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

This article examines the judicialization of private systems of governance that are transforming "common sense" understandings of who should govern states, societies, and political economies. The focus is on the private transnational institutions and processes in the global investment and financial regimes. These regimes contribute to the maintenance and expansion of capitalism by assisting in the management and mitigation of risk, but they also participate in the construction of the sorts of risks that require management and mitigation. In so doing, they are deeply involved in determining what requires governance, as well determining the appropriate mechanisms and manner of governance. …

The Status Of Authority In The Globalizing Economy: Beyond The Public/Private Distinction, Eva Hartmann, Poul F. Kjaer

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

Over the past decades, the idea that national sovereignty and the authority of the state have been increasingly challenged or even substantially eroded has been a dominant one.' Economic globalization advancing a neo-liberal dis-embedding of the economy is seen as the major reason for this erosion. Concerns have increased about the negative consequences for the social fabric of societies, deprived of the strong shock absorption capacity that the welfare states had established in the time of the embedded liberalism to use a term John Ruggie coined. 2 The concerns have also helped nationalistic movements to gain power in many high-income …

Efficiency Or Power? The Rise Of The Shareholder-Oriented Joint Stock Corporation, Paddy Ireland

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

This paper explores the attempts to depict the global rise to dominance of the shareholder-orientedj oint stock corporationa s largely economically determined and to portray these corporations as fundamentally 'rivate" in nature. By analyzing the economic nature of the joint stock companies (JSCs) that emerged in growing numbers in the nineteenth century, the historical construction of a corporate legal form to accommodate them, and the very different possible futures contained within their rise (one highly "financialized," the other increasingly "socialized'), the paper argues that special interests and power lie behind what is often dressed up as economic efficiency. Against this …

Resourcing Green Technologies Through Smart Mineral Enterprise Development: A Case Analysis Of Cobalt, Saleem Ali, Perrine Toledano, Nicolas Maennling, Nathaniel Hoffman, Lola Aganga

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement requires the world to adopt ‘green technologies’ such as renewable energies and electric transportation at an unprecedented scale. While many countries have implemented policies to spur the adoption of such technologies, a lack of focus has been placed on the sourcing of minerals that are required as inputs. As a result, there is likely to be a significant deficit that may constrain the adoption of green technologies.

In this report, we argue that a neglected area in addressing the mineral scarcity challenge is the private sector’s current trajectory for geological mineral exploration and …

Cracking Shells: The Panama Papers & Looking To The European Union's Anti-Money Laundering Directive As A Framework For Implementing A Multilateral Agreement To Combat The Harmful Effects Of Shell Companies, Nicholas Vail

Texas A&M Law Review

In early 2016, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists released a report detailing thousands of leaked documents demonstrating how a Panamanian law firm had, for years, helped wealthy clients conceal their financial activities through the use of offshore shell companies. The Panama Papers, as the leaked documents came to be known, directed renewed attention at the use of shell companies. Shell companies are used by the world’s wealthy and powerful to lower their taxes, but are also used by tax evaders, criminal organizations, and terrorists. While much of the renewed attention has been directed at offshore tax havens such as …

Fulfilling U.S. Commitment To Refugee Resettlement: Protecting Refugees, Preserving National Security, & Building The U.S. Economy Through Refugee Admissions, Harvard Immigration And Refugee Clinical Program

Texas A&M Law Review

At a time when the U.S. refugee admissions program is under serious threat and the world’s displaced population is at its highest, this Report sets forth extensive recommendations regarding the United States’ role in protecting vulnerable refugees and compliance with its commitments under domestic and international law that together safeguard people fleeing persecution and fearing return to torture. The Report also identifies key national security reasons for supporting and enhancing the refugee program in keeping with U.S. foreign policy priorities. Additionally, the Report provides an in-depth discussion of the robust, multistep security-assessment mechanisms already in place for screening refugees; offers …

Can Non-State Regulatory Authority Improve Domestic Forest Sustainability? Assessing Interactive Pathways Of Influence In Cameroon, Sophia Carodenuto, Benjamin Cashore

Transnational Business Governance Interactions Working Papers

Transnational business governance can involve the use of non-state mechanisms to target the behavior of firms within domestic settings. Drawing on the implementation pillar of the TGBI framework, this chapter focuses attention on the interaction between state and non-state regulatory authority from two leading cases of TBG in tropical forest management: climate mitigation through avoided deforestation (REDD+) and timber legality verification through international trade agreements (FLEGT/VPA). A dominant justification among global elites for both interventions is that empowering marginalized domestic groups through technology transfer and capacity building will lead to more durable policy solutions on the ground. Drawing on empirical …

Transnational Business Governance Interactions And Financial Regulation Change: A Case Of Asian Financial Markets, Simin Gao, Christopher Chen

Transnational Business Governance Interactions Working Papers

This chapter examines the interactions of transnational business governance schemes regulating the global derivatives markets with multiple levels of interactions. The chapter describes the process of interactions via the theory of isomorphism. First, after examining the interactions of futures exchanges, we identify that governance techniques among futures exchanges are rather similar, illustrating the forces of mimetic and normative isomorphism. Second, the monopoly of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) scheme in the over-the-counter (OTC) market provides signs of mimetic isomorphism. Third, through imparity of market power and major market dealers, the ISDA scheme became the only governance scheme for …

Local Practices, Transnational Solutions? The Role Of Host Cities In The Cyclic Process Of Environmental Regulation Of Sports Mega-Events, Rebecca Schmidt

Transnational Business Governance Interactions Working Papers

The chapter uses a case study of the environmental protection and sustainability framework for Olympic Games to examine the interactive role of local government actors as innovators in the creation of transnational regulation. The host city level has been at the forefront of innovating this framework. Developments initiated at this level were later taken up by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and became mandatory for future host cities, in a dynamic the chapter terms ‘cyclical regulation’. The chapter makes two main claims about this process: First, in certain conditions, host cities and their local organizers can ratchet up social and …

Micro-Level Interactions In The Compliance Processes Of Transnational Private Governance, Graeme Auld, Stefan Renckens

Transnational Business Governance Interactions Working Papers

Transnational private governance has emerged in multiple issue areas to promote responsible business practices. While most studies assess its rule-setting function, much less research has been done on the compliance-assessment function. This chapter examines the various actors that are involved in this process—auditors, individual assessors and, to a lesser extent, accreditors—and their respective interactions. Using the Marine Stewardship Council as an empirical case, the chapter examines the level of competition among accredited auditors and assessors, and the degree of organizational interdependence. It argues that while the number of accredited auditors has increased over time, the degree of competition is rather …

Transnational Delegation, Accountability And The Administrative Governance Of Biofuel Standards, Phillip Paiement

Transnational Business Governance Interactions Working Papers

The European Union’s 2009 Renewable Energy Directive delegated to privately run ‘voluntary schemes’ the task of monitoring biomass production sites and ensuring their compliance with the Directive’s sustainability requirements. This chapter assesses the consequences of the Commission’s delegation for the administrative governance architectures of non-state sustainable biofuel standards operating outside the EU, focusing in particular on the effects this governance interaction has on the involvement of vulnerable stakeholders in the governance of sustainable biofuels. Utilizing the Transnational Business Governance Interactions framework complemented by the theory of governance assemblages, this research provides a meso-level analysis of the character and effects of …

Let International Competition Negotiations Sleep A While Longer: Focus On Tools And Capacity, Frederick M. Abbott

Scholarly Publications

No abstract provided.