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Michaels on Non-State Governance

By Lawrence Solum

Ralf Michaels (Duke University - School of Law) has posted The Mirage of Non-State Governance (Utah Law Review, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

In this Essay, I offer three theses, all of which are critical. First, non?state governance is conceptually unattractive; it is a concept that makes little sense. Second, non?state governance is empirically unattractive; meaningful non?state governance rarely exists. Third, meaningful non?state governance is normatively unattractive; we would rarely want it, and people postulating it usually expect the state to play an important role. However, I also have something constructive: a proposed trajectory. Talk about the state and the non?state can only be an intermediary stage in a trajectory of a theory of governance that might lead to a new paradigm of governance. This trajectory would move from state centralism via a state/non?state dichotomy and a state/non?state hybridity toward a new paradigm of governance beyond the state. In other words, talk about non?state governance is not too radical; it is not radical enough.

Full post as published by Legal Theory Blog on May 21, 2010 (boomark / email).