Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: Public and Private Regulatory Interactions: EU Responses to Private Environmental Regulation

本论文项目旨在了解不同的监管机构如何相互作用。本文探讨了以下研究问题：“为什么欧洲联盟（欧盟）在不同的问题领域以不同的监管方式回应现有的私人环境监管？“本项目中的私人环境监管是指非国家行为者（行业组织、公司、非政府组织）为诱导企业环境友好行为而制定的自愿认证和生态标签计划。通过研究欧盟在四个问题领域对私人监管的回应，（有机农业、生物燃料、渔业和公平贸易）这一研究将解释为什么在某些情况下欧盟通过制定自己的公共认证计划做出了强烈反应，而在另一些情况下它决定根本不干预，或者只以非常有限的方式进行干预。通过研究这些问题领域的公共政策和私人监管的历史共同演变，通过分析欧盟监管反应的决策过程，本研究将确定能够解释上述变化的因果机制和过程。通过深入的半结构化访谈，我将从欧盟官员和决策者、欧盟层面和国家利益和倡导团体、私营环境监管计划的代表、问题专家和学者那里收集原始数据。这些数据将与决策过程的数据相补充，这将在案头研究中收集，并从受访者获得的笔记和文件。本论文的主要智力贡献是它的侧重于一个未探讨的因变量，即公共当局对私人环境监管的监管反应。这项研究将有助于对公共和私人监管之间的相互作用以及更广泛地对非国家行为者在政治中的作用进行新的研究。尽管本文仅限于环境问题领域，但预期结论也可推广到其他问题领域。换句话说，我们并不指望环境问题的特殊性决定公众对私人监管的反应，而是更普遍的因素，如私人监管项目的特殊性和企业参与这些项目的程度，解释公共当局的反应。私人行为者目前正在使用认证和标签计划，以解决日益多样化的环境和社会问题，问题领域。这项研究将有助于产生有关公共当局如何更好地整合公共和私人政策工具的政策知识。此外，了解公共政策与私人监管计划的互动方式将为此类计划的发起者提供有关其设计和运作的有用信息。

This dissertation project aims to understand how different regulatory institutions interact. Itwill examine the following research question: "Why has the European Union (EU) responded toexisting private environmental regulation in different issue areas in diverse regulatory ways?"Private environmental regulation in this project refers to voluntary certification and eco-labelingprograms developed by non-state actors (industry organizations; firms; non-governmentalorganizations) to induce corporate environmentally friendly behavior. By examining EUresponses to private regulation in four issue areas (organic agriculture, biofuels, fisheries, andfair trade) this research will explain why in some cases the EU has responded strongly bydeveloping its own public certification program, while in other cases it has decided not tointervene at all, or only in a very limited way.By examining the historical co-evolution of public policy and private regulation in these issueareas, and by analyzing the decision-making processes of the EU's regulatory responses, thisstudy will identify the causal mechanisms and processes that can explain the observedvariation. Through in-depth, semi-structured interviews I will gather original data from EUofficials and decision-makers, EU-level and national interest and advocacy groups,representatives from private environmental regulatory programs, issue experts and academics.These data will be complemented with data on the decision-making processes, which will begathered during desk research and from notes and documents obtained from interviewees.This dissertation's main intellectual contribution is its focus on an unexplored dependentvariable, namely the regulatory responses of public authorities to private environmentalregulation. This study will contribute to the nascent research on the interaction between publicand private regulation and on the role of non-state actors in politics more broadly. Even thoughthis dissertation will be limited to environmental issue areas, it is expected that the conclusionsare generalizable to other issue areas as well. It is not expected, in other words, that theparticular characteristics of the environmental issues determine public responses to privateregulation, but rather that more general factors, such as the specific features of privateregulatory programs and corporate involvement in these programs, explain public authorities'responses.Private actors are currently using certification and labeling programs to address environmentaland social problems in an increasingly diverse range of issue areas. This research will contributeto generating policy relevant knowledge on how public authorities can attain a betterintegration of public and private policy instruments. Furthermore, understanding the waypublic policy interacts with private regulatory programs will generate useful information forinitiators of such programs regarding their design and functioning.