The New Legal Pluralism

Scholars studying interactions among multiple communities have often used the term legal pluralism to describe the inevitable intermingling of normative systems that results from these interactions. In recent years, a new application of pluralist insights has emerged in the international and transnational realm. This review aims to survey and help define this emerging field of global legal pluralism. I begin by briefly describing sites for pluralism research, both old and new. Then I discuss how pluralism has come to be seen as an attractive analytical framework for those interested in studying law on the world stage. Finally, I identify advantages of a pluralist approach and respond to criticisms, and I suggest ways in which pluralism can help both in reframing old conceptual debates and in generating useful normative insights for designing procedural mechanisms, institutions, and discursive practices for managing hybrid legal/cultural spaces

Regulatory roles and functions in information-based regulation: a systematic review

Information-based regulation occurs when regulators use information to drive changes in behaviours in order to achieve public policy objectives. Information-based regulation has emerged as an alternative way to regulate firms compared with more traditional direct command-and-control and market-based policy instruments within the contemporary regulatory state. Despite growing international interest, challenges remain in understanding the roles for regulators in information-based regulation, the functions of regulators in shaping and leveraging information flows, and the administrative capacities required to fulfil them. Based on a systematic review methodology, this article synthesises the findings of 130 peer-reviewed articles in the environmental, energy and food policy areas. It develops a typology of functions for regulators and outlines the new administrative capacities required in the contemporary regulatory state, particularly in standard setting, assurance and intermediation, and smart data management. Points for practitioners: Regulation by information is becoming popular in many part of the world beyond its original genesis in the US and other developed countries. The design and implementation of such schemes creates new challenges for regulators. Our review integrates relevant research in three policy areas (environment, food and energy) and develops a new typology of functions performed by regulators. The article is the first to discuss how the roles and functions of regulators need to change in the contemporary information and regulatory environment. It also emphasises the importance of regulatory involvement in information-based regulation, which has traditionally been seen as a deregulatory approach

Legal plurality in Mekong hydropower: its emergence and policy implications

The changing role of the state and the increased participation of non-state actors has blurred the meaning of international affairs and highlighted overlapping power structures at international, national, and local levels. This paper illustrates how these power structures shape the hydropower decision making landscape in one of the world’s most dynamic transboundary basins, the Mekong. Using the Lao PDR as a case study, we highlight how international donors’ influence in the overall shaping of national policy and legal frameworks, the state’s positioning of hydropower development as the main source of revenue, and the emerging importance of private sector actors manifested in overlapping rules and legal plurality in hydropower decision making. While legal plurality reflects the inherently contested terrain of hydropower, it also highlights the importance of power geometries and the scale dynamics in hydropower governance. The growing role of non-state actors may be interpreted as a reduction in state decision making power, but it may also be seen as a means for the state to take advantage of competing interests, in this case receiving both donor funding and private capital. If international donors expect national government agencies to promote meaningful application of internationally defined socio-environmental safeguards, they need to create space for critical discussion and move beyond the current standardized approach in promoting sustainable hydropower development

Regulation by disclosure: the case of internal control

Disclosure, Internal control, Turnbull guidance,