The Challenges of Regulatory Governance in a World of Global Value Chains I

Abstract

The role, potential and limitations of regulatory governance have changed as the global economy has undergone a major transformation in the past two-three decades – away from market exchange and vertical integration within transnational corporations, and towards the operation of Global Value Chains (GVCs). A widening range of regulatory, self-regulatory and multi-stakeholder governance tools have emerged, and with them a burgeoning literature examining their complexity, efficiency and effectiveness – individually and in combination. In parallel, much research has been dedicated to how powerful firms govern GVCs within specific regulatory frameworks. So far, these two traditions have worked mainly in isolation from each other, despite the many mutually-relevant insights. This panel is a call for contributions that seek to build analytical, theoretical and/or empirical efforts for a more nuanced understanding of regulatory governance in a global economy where powerful firms in GVCs operate transnationally and carry out important regulatory functions.