Synthesis report: Third International Conference on Corporate Governance in Emerging Market

The Third International Conference on Corporate Governance in Emerging Markets is one in a series of academic events organized by the Emerging Markets Corporate Governance Network (EMCGN). The Global Corporate Governance Forum at IFC endorses and supports the Network, which was first convened by Professor Stijn Claessens in 2001. The biannual academic conferences organized by the Network feature themes that are important to academics and practitioners interested in the role and effect of corporate governance in emerging markets.This report summarizes 10 thematically different sessions that explored important topical areas in corporate governance research

Professional self-regulation in a changing architecture of governance: comparing health policy in the UK and Germany

This chapter compares transformations in professional self-regulation in the UK and Germany through the lens of governance. We introduce an expanded concept of governance that includes national configurations of state–profession relationships and places selfregulation in the context of other forms of governance. The analysis shows that a general trend towards network governance plays out differently. In the UK, a plural structure of network governance and stakeholder arrangements is emerging in the context of stateled change. In Germany, partnership governance between sickness funds and medical associations shape the transformations and act as a barrier towards the entry of new players

Net Neutrality as Global Principle for Internet Governance

This paper discusses the concept of network neutrality (NN) and explores its relevance to global Internet governance. The paper identifies three distinct ways in which the concept of network neutrality might attain a status as a globally applicable principle for Internet governance. The paper concludes that the concept of a "neutral" Internet has global applicability in a variety of contexts relevant to Internet governance

Rethinking network governance: new forms of analysis and the implications for IGR/MLG

Our position is that network governance can be understood as a communicative arena. Networks, then, are not defined by frequency of interactions between actors but by sharing of and contest between different clusters of ideas, theories and normative orientations (discourses) in relation to the specific context within which actors operate. A discourse comprises an ensemble of ideas, concepts and causal theories that give meaning to and reproduce ways of understanding the world (Chouliaraki and Fairclough 1999). Consequently, network governance can be understood as the inherently political process through which discourses are produced, reproduced and transformed. Democratic network governance thus becomes the study of the way in which the core challenges of democratic practice are addressed – how is legitimacy awarded, by what mechanisms are decisions reached, and how is accountability enabled. Three approaches to the discursive analysis of democracy in network governance are considered - argumentation analysis, inter-subjectivity, and critical discourse analysis – and their implications for the study of intergovernmental relations and multi-level governance (IGR/MLG) are discussed. Case examples are provided. We conclude that the value for the study of MLG/IGR is to complement existing forms of analysis by opening up the communicative and ideational aspects of interactions between levels of government and other actors

Network Governance at the Firm and Network Level: Goals, Routines, and Social Mechanisms

This article contributes to the general understanding of governance in networks and the achievement of private and common goals. Integrating transaction costs and social network theory, a simple integrated framework is provided for understanding why firms collaborate and under which conditions they establish durable networks that succeed in achieving goals. Network theory is extended by explicitly distinguishing between firm and network level governance, and by identifying governance mechanisms that adapt, coordinate, and safeguard customized exchanges. This way issues as how networks evolve, how they are governed, and ultimately, how collective outcomes might be generated can be better comprehended. This is especially relevant to policy planners and those having a perspective that goes beyond the performance of individual organizations.network governance, social network theory, governance mechanisms., Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Industrial Organization, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

The internet and public–private governance in the European Union

The EU plays a significant role in public policy aspects of Internet governance, having created in the late 1990s the dot eu Internet Top Level Domain (TLD). This enables users to register names under a European online address label. This paper explores key public policy issues in the emergent governance system for dot eu, because it provides an interesting case of new European transnational private governance. Specifically, dot eu governance is a reconciliation resulting from a governance cultural clash between the European regulatory state and what can be described broadly as the Internet community. The EU has customised the governance of dot eu towards a public–private dispersed agencification model. The paper extends the evidence base on agencification within trans-European regulatory networks and the emergence of private transnational network governance characterised by self-regulation

A Monitoring Network for Spectrum Governance

Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA) is an exciting new technology, which has introduced a paradigm shift in spectrum access. As a result it also changes the role of the regulator. On one hand the scarce radio spectrum should be used in an optimal way, so that society is best served. On the other hand interference between users and between networks should be avoided. For that reason rules have to be defined for spectrum use. This topic is called spectrum governance. For evaluation and to check whether devices obey the rules, a monitoring system is needed. In this paper, we propose to use a fleet of mobile monitoring vehicles for this purpose.\u

Designs on governance : development of policy instruments and dynamics in governance

The thesis analyses the role of policy instruments for dynamics of governance, using case studies on ‘emissisons trading’ and ‘network access regulation in the utilities’. It opens by observing a paradox: Policy instruments are criticised for misrepresenting the complex and contested reality of public policy-making by portraying it as technical problem-solving, yet, policy instruments play an increasingly central role in policy analysis, design and public debate. \ud The first part of the thesis develops a conception of policy instruments as ‘designs on governance’. This implies a double life: as models of governance and as configurations that work in real world governance contexts. Understanding the role of policy instruments requires to study the development of trajectories in governance patterns that result from the interaction of models and configurations. Concepts from innovation studies are mobilised and the notion of an ‘innovation journey’ is adopted as a heuristic framework. \ud The second part of the thesis presents two case studies examplifying different innovation patterns: design push (case of emissions trading) and dynamics pull (case of network access regulation). For each pattern typical phases and transitions as well as ironies that undermine the instrumentality of designs on governance are discussed. Conclusions of the thesis address the co-evolution of policy instruments with broader governance dynamics and specify conditions under which momentum of instruments may dominate over dynamics of problem formulation and political authority, or vice versa. Key insights are formulated with respect to the division of design labour between local and global in the context of emerging cosmopolitan governance regimes, the social life of policy instruments and the ambivalent role of technical models of governance for effectiveness as well as democratic legimitacy of public policy

The relationship between government and civil society: a neo-Gramscian framework for analysis

This paper presents a neo-Gramscian framework for the analysis of the relationship between government and civil society. We argue that the influence of ‘post-traditional’ theories of modernisation on ‘networks’ and ‘network society’ is crucial in understanding the concept of ‘governance’. This influence has led to an exaggeration of the displacement of hierarchy by networks and of the novel nature of governance reforms. Additionally, it can be argued that the notion of ‘governance networks’ is part of a neoliberal hegemony and that the concept is thus more ideological than analytical. This critique on the neoliberal dimension of the governance concept was also forcefully argued by Jonathan S. Davies (2011a, 2011b, 2012, 2014b), who presented a Gramscian alternative for the analysis of government and governance. We will follow a less orthodox Gramscian path, but one that is nonetheless aimed at offering an alternative of the dominant network view on governance. We will present how the relationship between government and civil society can be seen as an interplay between coercion and hegemony. As part of the CSI Flanders research project we will then explore three dimensions of this relationship in closer detail: the ideological dimension, the institutional arrangements, and the street-level strategies. These three dimensions will be further operationalised in the following phases of the research project, especially in a large-scale survey of Flemish CSOs and representatives of governments, and selected in-depth studies of Flemish central and local governments