Schooten, Hanneke van; Verschuuren, Jonathan --- "Conclusions and Challenges: Towards a Fruitful Relationship between State Regulation and Non-State Law" [2008] ELECD 315; in van Schooten, Hanneke; Verschuuren, Jonathan (eds), "International Governance and Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2008)

Book Title: International Governance and Law

Editor(s): van Schooten, Hanneke; Verschuuren, Jonathan

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847207272

Section: Chapter 13

Section Title: Conclusions and Challenges: Towards a Fruitful Relationship between State Regulation and Non-State Law

Author(s): Schooten, Hanneke van; Verschuuren, Jonathan

Number of pages: 10

Extract:

13. Conclusions and challenges:
towards a fruitful relationship
between state regulation and non-
state law
Hanneke van Schooten and Jonathan
Verschuuren

1. QUESTIONS

In recent decades, non-state law has boomed. The national state legisla-
ture's power is generally thought to be diminishing given the shift in focus
of various topics, such as trade, and the environment, to the global level. It
is not just other states or supranational organizations that influence
national law. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as human
rights organizations, environmental organizations and religious groups, as
well as business organizations and multinational corporations, have also
become important players in the field of law-making. It is hardly conceiv-
able that regulation in such fields as the environment, the Internet or world
security should be developed without these non-state actors. They play a
part in a globalizing world that cannot be ignored by the state legislature
and by regulators. This development sheds new light on the role of the state
and thus on the role of state regulation. The state no longer has the monop-
oly of setting rules and regulations on topics that are considered to be in
the public realm. In a world where non-state actors become increasingly
important, so do the rules they make.
However, the fact that globalization will continue to change the role of
the state as the main producer and enforcer of rules and regulations is not
the end of the state legislature. It remains important, not just for ...