MACMILLAN Transnational Governance and South American Politics: The Political Economy of Norms (International Political Economy Series)

This book examines the interface between transnational private governance and domestic politics in South America.  It explores the social and political factors that condition how ‘global’ private norms, discourses, and initiatives dealing with sustainability and CSR regulation are engaged with, hybridized, and challenged by local actors in Argentina and Brazil. Inverting the conventional approach to global governance studies, it unpacks the complex forms in which domestic political-cultural elements embed global norms and discourses with meaning and mobilizing power, conditioning their appeal to potential participants and supporters. In doing so, the author illuminates the ‘receiving side’ of private regulation and governance, developing a nuanced understanding of transnational norm diffusion wherein political and ideational factors in the global South are granted primacy over global structures, processes, and agents.  Review “Understanding how transnational governance of sustainability can be made effective is one of the great challenges of the 21st Century. This book makes a major contribution to this agenda through a comparative investigation of how the state, private sector and civil society in Argentina and Brazil have engaged with three distinct transnational initiatives on sustainability and social standards: the United Nations Global Compact; the Global Reporting Initiative; and the International Standards Organisation’s ISO 26000 standards. I would strongly recommend it to all scholars interested in understanding how public and private actors negotiate and engage with the shifting sands of global governance, not just in Latin America, but across the world.” (Khalid Nadvi, University of Manchester, UK)  “The role of states in the Global South in processes of global governance is one of the most significant topics of the contemporary era. This volume offers a fresh perspective that not only challenges traditional top-down assumptions but also puts forward a novel analytical framework emphasising local dynamics and the politics of resonance. It is essential reading for anyone interested in the dynamics of globalization.” (Thomas Davies, City University London, UK) From the Back Cover This book examines the interface between transnational private governance and domestic politics in South America.  It explores the social and political factors that condition how ‘global’ private norms, discourses, and initiatives dealing with sustainability and CSR regulation are engaged with, hybridized, and challenged by local actors in Argentina and Brazil. Inverting the conventional approach to global governance studies, it unpacks the complex forms in which domestic political-cultural elements embed global norms and discourses with meaning and mobilizing power, conditioning their appeal to potential participants and supporters. In doing so, the author illuminates the ‘receiving side’ of private regulation and governance, developing a nuanced understanding of transnational norm diffusion wherein political and ideational factors in the global South are granted primacy over global structures, processes, and agents.  About the Author Alejandro Milcíades Peña is Lecturer of International Politics at the University of York, UK. His research interests cover state-society relations in South America, political sociology and social movements, transnational private governance, and system theory approaches to International Relations theory.