The Emergence of Southern Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives Governing Standards Within Domestic Markets: The Case of Trustea

The recent emergence of multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs) governing social standards for domestic markets in the global South raises new questions regarding the actors and processes driving their development. While standards developed through MSIs have sought to govern the social conditions of production for goods and services consumed in Northern markets for decades, the emergence of MSIs governing markets in the global South represents a new and as yet only partially explored phenomenon. Understanding the actors, drivers and processes shaping the emergence of Southern MSIs is particularly relevant given that trade is increasingly multi-polar and consumption in emerging markets is rapidly expanding. This paper argues that the development of Southern MSIs may be led by Northern as well as Southern actors, processes and drivers. This paper draws on the analysis of production networks (PNs) in order to examine the reasons why firms, state and civil society actors from the global North and global South have maintained an interest in shaping Southern MSIs. The paper finds that various intersections exist between Northern and Southern actors which in turn blurs the assumed differences between governance for exports and governance for domestic markets. These intersections have allowed Northern actors to play a leading role in developing Southern MSIs in keeping with their interests; thereby questioning the presumption that Southern MSIs will necessarily be developed solely by Southern actors.