Global Governance and the Quest for Justice - Volume III : Civil Society

"This book -- one in the four-volume set,Global Governance and the Quest for Justice -- focuses on themes of citizen organisation and empowerment set in the context of globalising legal processes. Chapter One sets the scene. Chapters Two, Three and Four focus on various challenges that globalisation poses for private law. How does substantive contract and tort doctrine that has been developed (mainly) for use within national legal systems adapt to more globalised dealings and wrongdoings? Should the source of regulation be private international law, harmonised national law, international accords (or some combination)? Chapters Five, Six and Seven focus on issues relating to access to justice (as a mode of empowerment) and its impact on the functioning of civil society. These chapters highlight a variety of procedural, professional and institutional challenges for access to justice in a globalised world. Chapter Eight considers how we are to reconcile the competing visions of the basis on which essential services are to be provided. In a global marketplace, is there any room for local values or for values other than those of free-market thinking? Finally, Chapter Nine focuses on the question of democracy in a globalised world. If civil society is to retain its political vitality, how are citizens to remain engaged and enfranchised as a new global politico-legal order takes shape?"--Bloomsbury Publishing. "This book -- one in the four-volume set, Global Governance and the Quest for Justice -- focuses on themes of citizen organisation and empowerment set in the context of globalising legal processes. Chapter One sets the scene. Chapters Two, Three and Four focus on various challenges that globalisation poses for private law. How does substantive contract and tort doctrine that has been developed (mainly) for use within national legal systems adapt to more globalised dealings and wrongdoings? Should the source of regulation be private international law, harmonised national law, international accords (or some combination)? Chapters Five, Six and Seven focus on issues relating to access to justice (as a mode of empowerment) and its impact on the functioning of civil society. These chapters highlight a variety of procedural, professional and institutional challenges for access to justice in a globalised world. Chapter Eight considers how we are to reconcile the competing visions of the basis on which essential services are to be provided. In a global marketplace, is there any room for local values or for values other than those of free-market thinking? Finally, Chapter Nine focuses on the question of democracy in a globalised world. If civil society is to retain its political vitality, how are citizens to remain engaged and enfranchised as a new global politico-legal order takes shape?"--Bloomsbury Publishing This book - one in the four-volume set, Global Governance and the Quest for Justice - focuses on the role of corporations in an increasingly globalised world. Against the backcloth of perceived abuse of corporate power - alleged violations of human rights, degradation of the environment, abuse of labour, Enron-style financial scandals, and the like - the chapters in this collection examine the nature and function of the corporation as well as the way in which we should understand corporate governance and the power of transnational corporations. Central to the question is the issue of accountability, as well as the questions of social and environmental responsibility - here the authors ask whether corporations should be more accountable relative to the broader public interest, and suggest that public law approaches to accountability may offer a way forward. Consideration is also given to the most appropriate regulatory locus (local, regional, or international) and the most effective form of response to the deficit in corporate responsibility and the abuse of corporate power. For example, are transnational corporations most effectively regulated internationally (e.g., by the United Nations), regionally (e. g., by the EU or NAFTA) or locally (e.g., through stringent reporting requirements and implementation of triple bottom line standards)?