ABSTRACT

Scholars emphasise the constitutive ambiguity of transnational private standards and the importance of global-local interactions in their implementation. Yet how this ambiguity and these interactions shape the legitimation of transnational private governance, especially in the norm formation phase, remain open questions. The conceptual metaphor of ‘grounding’ offers a promising perspective on these questions. This article conceptualises the grounding of transnational private governance in terms of practices of translation by which transnational standard-setting is grounded in receptive local contexts; practices of contestation by which it runs aground on local resistance; and communities of practice that shape the normative grounds for legitimate standard-setting authority. An illustrative example of local Colombian reactions to the development of the global social responsibility guide ISO 26000 suggests that a basic principle of private standardisation, that standards are developed through a consensus process in which all concerned interests are effectively represented, is not as important to the legitimation of standards as many suppose, and that membership in two overlapping communities of practice—standardisation and corporate social responsibility—explains why actors legitimise standard-setters that do not fulfill a legitimacy criterion they purport to consider crucial.

摘要

学者们强调跨国私营标准的构成性模糊性以及全球-本地互动在其实施中的重要性。然而，这种模糊性和这些相互作用如何塑造跨国私人治理的合法性，特别是在规范形成阶段，仍然是悬而未决的问题。“接地”的概念隐喻为这些问题提供了一个有希望的视角。本文从翻译实践的角度概念化了跨国私人治理的基础，通过这种实践，跨国标准制定以接受的当地语境为基础；因当地抵抗而搁浅的争论做法；以及形成合法标准制定权威的规范基础的实践社区。