Accountability and legitimacy in earth system governance: A research framework

Along with concerns over the effectiveness of earth system governance, ways of enhancing its accountability and legitimacy are increasingly coming to the fore in both scholarly debate and political practice. Concerns over accountability and legitimacy pertain to all levels of governance, from the local to the global, and cover the spectrum of public and private governance arrangements. This conceptual article elaborates on the sources, mechanisms and reform options relating to more accountable, legitimate and democratic earth system governance. We proceed in four steps. First, we conceptualize accountability and legitimacy in earth system governance. Second, we place questions of accountability and legitimacy within the larger context of earth system transformation, which, we argue, poses special challenges to the pursuit of accountability and legitimacy. Third, drawing on the contributions to this special section, we analyze different sources and mechanisms of accountability and legitimacy and their effects on the democratic potential and effectiveness of governance. Fourth, in concluding, we outline reform options that may help alleviate persisting deficits in the democratic potential of earth system governance.     

The state-augmenting effects of globalisation

Recent debates have drawn attention to the legitimacy challenges faced by new forms of global governance. Privatised governance in particular has come under considerable scrutiny. This paper attempts to contribute to this debate through an analysis of the widespread critiques of climate governance that focus on its ‘marketized’ or ‘privatized’ character. Such critiques fundamentally attempt to delegitimise dominant governance mechanisms which can be collectively known as the ‘global carbon market’. The paper argues that to understand the political dynamics of legitimacy surrounding these forms of governance we need to take into account the recurrent tension within capitalism between accumulation and legitimation. This focus enables us to understand the legitimacy problems surrounding climate governance. First, it draws attention to the character of the discourses which are critical of marketized climate governance, which attack it precisely because of the forms of accumulation it enables. Second, many of these governance projects have themselves been developed in part precisely in order to overcome legitimacy crises inherent in capital accumulation, and specifically in the current context in relation to the dominance of finance within contemporary capitalism. Finally, it suggests that one of the strategies of firms involved in such governance is to attempt to overcome this legitimacy-accumulation tension in the way that automobility did in the Fordist era. Climate governance practices should be understood as a pursuit of this sort of coherence which might give rise to an ‘ecological regime of accumulation’ that aims to forestall more radical critiques that argue that capitalism and sustainability are inimical.     

过程、结果维度的环境治理与企业财务绩效

目前国内外对于环境治理与企业财务绩效之间关系的研究,结论不一致且不能有效比较,可能是由于没有区分环境治理的不同维度,而高成本的环境治理过程与环境治理结果之间的关系尚不明确。本文基于2009—2017年A股公司年报手工搜集企业环境治理数据,基于权衡理论、自然资源理论和TLGT效应等,检验了环境治理过程和结果与企业财务绩效之间的非线性关系。结果发现:环境治理过程正向影响环境治理结果,而环境治理过程和结果两个维度都与企业财务绩效呈U型关系,较差的环境治理过程和结果均负向影响财务绩效,而较好的环境治理过程和结果均正向影响财务绩效,并且环境治理结果在环境治理过程和企业财务绩效之间发挥非线性中介作用。进一步检验发现,过程维度的环境治理仅通过成本效应路径影响财务绩效,而结果维度的环境治理同时通过成本效应路径和差异化效应路径影响财务绩效。本文基于中国的制度背景将环境治理划分为治理过程和治理结果两个维度,为企业环境治理与财务绩效之间的关系提供了经验证据,并对促进中国企业环境治理提供了一定启示。     

国有上市公司治理转型、治理要素提炼与公司绩效

国有企业的公司治理改革呈现出由传统的行政型治理向经济型治理演进转型的过程。选取2005-2009年持续经营的国有上市公司为样本,构建了行政型治理指数;进而对行政型治理与公司绩效的关系从不同维度进行了分析。研究结果显示,行政型治理度对公司绩效产生负面影响。其中,国有股权集中度是行政型治理“负效应”的“主要贡献者”;而政府经营政治化、高管人员的政治联系则在一定程度上有利于公司绩效的提升;最后,揭示了行政型治理对公司绩效的作用路径,行政型治理度越强,资产利用效率越低,进而影响到公司绩效的提升。相关结论有利于政府作为公司重要外部监管力量来界定监管和干预的边界;为探索党组织嵌入公司治理的有效途径提供了一定的理论基础。     

复杂产品系统项目的治理结构——基于利益相关者理论的研究

回顾了项目治理理论,并根据利益相关者理论识别复杂产品系统项目的利益相关者,进而对4个典型的复杂产品系统项目的合同签订过程、团队组建、外部环境和项目效益等进行剖析,从中析出具有一般性的复杂产品系统项目的治理结构。研究结果表明:复杂产品系统项目治理模型是由内部治理、外部治理和环境治理组成的,是反映利益相关者的责权划分、参与方式及项目沟通协调的综合治理模型。提出:内部治理反映项目核心利益相关者的领导力;外部治理反映契约关系的作用;环境治理是项目各利益相关者权利的保障。     

Legitimate governance of risk at the EU level? The case of genetically modified organisms

In the past few years, the EU has been establishing a new regulatory framework for GMOs, a central issue in the governance of risk that came under fierce attack in the mid-1990s. The primary question addressed in this article is whether this new framework will be able to solve the legitimacy problem of GMO governance at the EU level. Focusing on theories concerning input–output legitimacy and democracy and the role of expertise, this article examines the level of involvement of stakeholders in the process leading to the new rules; the predominant mechanisms of representation that have been used in that process; and the forms of participation in the day-to-day governance of risk as envisaged in the new rules. Based on document analysis and a series of interviews with central stakeholders, the conclusions bring up two further theoretical matters regarding EU governance, namely the transformative nature of citizenship and the conceptual distinction between input- and output-legitimacy.     

Participation and evaluation for sustainable river basin governance

This paper introduces a special section devoted to participation and evaluation for sustainable river basin governance. The departing point for this research was the recognition that although there is a relative agreement regarding the need to develop new multi-dimensional, inclusive and plural approaches to water resource management, there is still a deficiency of related methodologies and tools. This acknowledgement has motivated the undertaking of the ADVISOR — Integrated Evaluation for Sustainable River Basin Governance research project, which aimed at improving the understanding of evaluation processes, as part of river basin planning and management, and to test the use of specific tools to support the conduct of participatory processes. The paper starts with a discussion of the concept of integrated water resources management and an illustration of the water policies that have been adopted in different countries as a response to these trends. The conceptual framework that was developed in ADVISOR is then presented, as well as the main results from the ex-post analysis of the decision processes regarding five water related projects in different European countries. This analysis concluded that, in most situations, the decision-making processes fell short of including the interests, perceptions and values of affected parties. The remaining of the paper introduces the articles that form this special section, mostly devoted to the testing of new platforms for participation and deliberation. In the final section, a discussion on the assumptions and limitations of deliberative processes is presented, based on the results from the application of the different methods. Further research needs on the integration of different deliberative tools and on the integration of deliberation with decision processes are identified.     

Institutions and environmental governance: A reconceptualization

This article presents the conceptual revisions needed to extend the new institutional approach to environmental governance from its current local and international domains of application to all governance solutions, including national environmental and natural resource use policies and multi-level governance solutions that are increasingly used to address global environmental change. The article suggests that environmental governance is best understood as the establishment, reaffirmation or change of institutions to resolve conflicts over environmental resources. It also explains why the choice of these institutions is a matter of social justice rather than of efficiency. The article suggests a way to understand formal and state-centered governance solutions as forms of collective ownership not unlike common property. The article demonstrates how institutional analysis can gain resolution by looking at the functional and structural tiers, organization of governance functions, and formulation of key institutional rules as key aspects of the design of governance institutions.     

契约视角下的PPP项目承包商治理机制研究

本文从契约关系的视角研究了PPP项目承包商的治理机制问题,包括正式契约关系治理、剩余权利配置和关系契约治理,这3种治理机制分别对应着双方合作内容的不确定性程度。研究表明,正式契约适合对业主-承包商契约中确定性内容的治理,即利用明确的契约条款对双方合作关系中的行为风险或敲竹杠风险进行抑制。关系契约可以建立在事后双方可观察到的结果的基础上,适合对较不确定内容的治理。剩余权力的配置是一种弹性治理机制,适用于任何无法描述、无法判断或无法评价结果的不确定性内容,它通过对项目剩余索取权和剩余控制权的对称配置,提高承包商的主动合作性。     

基于文本分析的治理内涵研究

根据1993—2010年期间"治理"被学者们所赋予的各种定义,采用文本分析法,分别对治理的主体、途径、目标和视角进行聚类分析,进而揭示治理概念的内涵。研究结果表明:治理主体至少包括治理者和被治理者两类主体;治理途径主要有"规则"、"正式和非正式制度"、"指导和控制"、"合作和协调"4类;治理目标可被聚类为"协调行动,实现良好秩序","增进社会福利,实现公共利益","规制权力执行,维护法律制度","产生明晰结构,实现可问责性"4个方面;界定治理概念的视角有过程和活动,且两种视角出现的频率相同。     

司马迁的因俗以治思想及其现实镜鉴?

作为一种非正式制度,习俗在国家的社会经济发展和治理中起着非常重要的作用,在我国的古代社会尤其如此。司马迁较早注意到了俗与治的内在关联,但学术界忽视了其在司马迁经济思想中的重要地位。文章对司马迁的经济思想谱系中“俗”与“治”两大重要范畴进行了关联阐述,介绍了司马迁“因俗以治”治道思想的源流和主张,并结合现代经济学理论对其进行延伸与扩展,探讨其现实意义。研究发现：(1)司马迁的治道思想兼容了道家与儒家的无为而治思想的不同侧面,而其“善因论”的要义正在于“俗之所欲,因而予之”。(2)因俗以治的核心是因循人“生有欲”和“皆为利”的本性及民间习俗来因地制宜、因时制宜地立俗施事,以达至“事少而功多”的理想治理效果。(3)由于司马迁的经济思想带有浓厚的经验色彩和朴素性质,而且中国古代社会缺乏良好的市场环境,因此其在近代以前始终未得到重视和采纳。(4)司马迁“因俗以治”思想给现代国家治理带来了众多启示：一是要尊重风俗习惯并加以因势利导;二是要注重习俗等非正式制度与正式制度的兼容;三是要让好的习俗成为一种稳态均衡而固定下来并延续下去。文章不仅是对司马迁经济思想研究的丰富和拓展,而且对中国国家治理能力的提升也提供了有益的历史借鉴。     

National Government Responses to Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Fisheries Certification: Insights from Atlantic Canada

Over the last decade, the proliferation of social and environmental certification programmes has attracted the attention of a growing number of political scientists interested in new forms of ‘private’ transnational governance. However, we still lack analyses on the nature and extent of different state responses to and involvement in new private transnational governance arrangements in particular sectors and in different jurisdictions. This article advances our understanding of the interactions between nation-state and private transnational modes of governance by analysing the role of national government authorities in Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) fisheries certification in Atlantic Canada, known more for the disastrous collapse of Northern cod stocks than good marine stewardship. Focusing on the 2008 certification of Northern shrimp (Pandalus borealis) fisheries off the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, the analysis finds that the implementation and maintenance of MSC certification in this case depended on significant support from government authorities. The delicate legitimacy of both authorities faces a period of uncertainty in this case since some certified shrimp stocks appear to be in decline and perhaps also migrating northward off Newfoundland and Labrador.     

公司治理模式发展趋势综述

公司治理模式趋同化还是多样化?是近年比较公司治理学争论的核心.在梳理公司治理模式发展趋势不同学派观点的基础上,本文对英美模式国家与内陆模式国家在资本市场的作用、企业股权结构、董事会系统三大方面以全球化视野进行比较,归结出公司治理模式发展趋势应为同中有异,并对我国公司治理模式的选择提供借鉴意义.     

Why Companies Bring the State Back In. The Voluntary Self-Nationalisation of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company and the Rise of ‘Governance by Government’

ABSTRACT

While companies usually prefer private to hybrid governance, they sometimes transfer governance to governments. This paper assumes that this emerges from a decline in a firm’s relative market position. It tests this assumption in a two-stage qualitative analysis: First, it conducts a fuzzy-set QCA of these decisions based on BP’s Annual Company Reports. Second, it presents a process tracing of the voluntary self-nationalisation of the Anglo-Persian Oil Corporation. The paper produces three core findings: First, threats to a company’s survival enable a preference reversal in favour of governmentalisation. Second, shareholder dissatisfaction is a crucial motivator for governmentalisation. Third, managers with an entrepreneurial role-model are more sensitive to autonomy costs and more likely to opt for unconventional governance options.     

完善我国公司治理结构的理性选择--规范监事会制度

监事会制度与独立董事制度并存,会造成两个机构之间权利不清、职责不明,从而削弱双方的监督功能、降低监督效果。我国三权分立、相互制衡的公司治理结构本身是合理的,只是该机制在运行过程中效率不高。制度在实施中出现的弊端不能归因于制度本身,完善我国公司治理结构的理性选择应是规范监事会制度。     

企业虚拟品牌社区治理机制:结构探索和量表开发

在相关文献梳理与分析的基础上,界定了企业虚拟品牌社区治理机制的概念,通过半结构化访谈和开放式问卷调查等方式进行资料收集,并利用扎根理论进行编码,提炼出企业虚拟品牌社区治理机制的结构维度。在此基础上,遵循量表开发的标准模式和范式,通过对Haier智家社群、小米社区和花粉俱乐部的问卷调查,实现了对企业虚拟品牌社区治理机制结构模型和测量量表的验证。研究发现:(1)企业虚拟品牌社区治理机制是一个多维度概念,包括问责机制、关系规范、社区激励和网络惯例四个维度;(2)经过探索性和验证性因子分析的检验,本文所开发的企业虚拟品牌社区治理机制测量量表具有较高的信度和效度。本研究不仅拓展了治理机制在企业虚拟品牌社区情境中的理论研究,实现了对企业虚拟品牌社区治理机制概念内涵和结构维度的探索,而且首次开发了企业虚拟品牌社区治理机制的测量量表,为后续实证研究提供了有效测量工具。     

CSD water partnerships: Privatization, participation and legitimacy

Public-private partnerships have been presented as an opportunity to improve the input and output legitimacy of global environmental governance, and they were endorsed by intergovernmental agreement at the Johannesburg Summit in 2002. However, their potential to contribute substantially to these aims has also been questioned. For partnerships working in the water sector, the implications of private sector participation for legitimate water governance have been disputed, for example regarding whether public-private partnerships can provide water that is affordable and accessible to all, and whether they provide opportunities for local stakeholder participation. In this article, these discussions are examined with respect to several examples of public-private partnerships registered with the UN Commission on Sustainable Development. The analysis indicates that these partnerships partially address these criticisms, but also have their own shortcomings.     

Making a Market for Sustainability: The Commodification of Certified Palm Oil

In the same way there are markets for carbon, there is now a market for sustainability. Ostensibly produced as a means of conserving land in South-East Asia, a commodity called ‘certified sustainable palm oil’ has been created by the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and exchanged on its own international trading platform completely independently of the flow of physical palm oil. In this way, sustainability has acquired a precise pecuniary value and can be bought by ‘socially responsible’ companies to offset their use of conventional and potentially environmentally destructive palm oil. This is yet another instance of the commodification of nature, but of a kind largely unexplored in the literature because it has emerged without formal governmental authority. What this case adds analytically to the study of capitalism and environmentalism is two-fold. First, what is commonly described as non-state, market-driven governance must now be seen as actively market-making. Second, rather than foreclosing politics by moving outside the state and within markets, the fragile authority of the RSPO has opened space for activists and other interest groups to challenge both the regulatory mechanisms and social purpose of primary commodity governance.     

Governance Reforms and Growth: Some Ideas from Economic Theory

Ideas from the theory of incentives and organization are deployed to examine how some aspects of economic governance—primarily protection of property rights, enforcement of contracts, and oversight regulation—can be improved for achieving better economic growth and development. Some suggestions for reform of governance institutions in developing countries are offered.