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Multi-level Governance and the Rule of International Human Rights Law: The Case of the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights

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The Rule of Law in Global Governance

Abstract

Bexell’s chapter explores the interface between multi-level governance and global legal pluralism in the human rights realm through a study of the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights, involving companies, governments, and civil society organizations. She demonstrates that this form of regulation, rather than its substance, is contentious due to low transparency, weak enforcement, and long accountability chains. Bexell identifies a set of scope conditions that influences the degree to which multi-stakeholder governance arrangements can contribute to human rights protection. Those conditions show that the overarching regulatory problem remains to increase state capacity and will to comply with international human rights law, particularly in areas of limited statehood.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Science, Lund University, Box 52 SE-221 00, Lund, Sweden

    Magdalena Bexell

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  1. Magdalena Bexell
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Correspondence to Magdalena Bexell .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Bamberg, Germany

    Monika Heupel

  2. Leiden University, The Netherlands

    Theresa Reinold

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© 2016 The Author(s)

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Bexell, M. (2016). Multi-level Governance and the Rule of International Human Rights Law: The Case of the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights . In: Heupel, M., Reinold, T. (eds) The Rule of Law in Global Governance. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95053-9_7

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