Student of comparative public polic...

Student of comparative public policy (Howlett 2000) and international relations (Haufler, 2001; Cutler Haufler, and Porter, 1999; Hurd 1999) have noted that in the last decade, the arena of private authority has become increasingly important for addressing matters of interest to civil society. From shared governance mechanisms where non-governmental actors have a responsibility for policy implementation (Salaman, 2002; Gunningham, Grabosky, and Sinclair, 1998) to voluntary programs initiated by dint of industry associations (Kernaghan, 1999; Prakash, 1999) to firm horizontal choices that increasingly take societal interests into account in their business practices (Prakash, 2001; Cashore, Vertinsky, and Raizada, 2001; Cashore and Vertinsky, 2000;