ABSTRACT

Multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs) have become a vital part of the global regulatory agenda. For some, MSIs are a way to reassert democratic control and accountability over corporations. For others, they merely represent the private capture of regulatory power. Based on an analysis of three MSIs in an issue area where the prospects for politicisation seem particularly promising, the regulation of Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs), this article engages the debate about the political dynamics of MSIs. Using a three-face approach to depoliticisation that embraces its governmental, societal and discursive dimensions, the article shows that these governance arrangements have fostered depoliticisation along all three dimensions: The launch of MSIs has not only enabled states to evade a binding licencing regime; they have also diverted NGO attention into more amicable venues and turned the privatisation of security from a normative into a narrow, technical issue.

摘要

多利益相关方倡议 (MSI) 已成为全球监管议程的重要组成部分。对于某些人来说，MSI 是重申对公司的民主控制和问责制的一种方式。对其他人来说，它们仅仅代表了私人对监管权力的夺取。基于对政治化前景似乎特别有希望的问题领域中的三个 MSI 的分析，即对私营军事和安保公司 (PMSC) 的监管，本文对 MSI 的政治动态进行了辩论。本文使用包含政府、社会和话语维度的去政治化的三面方法，表明这些治理安排在所有三个维度都促进了去政治化： MSI 的推出不仅使各国能够逃避具有约束力的许可制度；