19
Lausanne, organizes seven chambers which correspond to their conception of stakeholders. They are (1) farmers and growers of biofuel feedstocks; (2) industrial biofuel producers; (3) retailers/blenders, transportation industry, and banks/investors;
(4) rights-based NGOs (including land, water, human, and labor rights) and trade
unions; (5) rural development or food security organizations and smallholder farmer
organizations or indigenous peoples’ organizations or community-based civil society organizations; (6) environment or conservation organizations and climate
change or policy organizations; and (7) intergovernmental organizations (IGOs),
governments, standard setters, specialist advisory agencies, certification agencies,
and consultant experts. Under these headings, stakeholders from around the world
convene to the roundtable and take responsibilities in developing and maintaining a
global governance structure on the sustainable biofuels. A similar effort, Roundtable
for Sustainable Palm Oil, defines stakeholders as “An individual or group with a
legitimate and/or demonstrable interest in, or who is directly affected by, the activities of an organisation and the consequences of those activities,” and encourages
their participation through various consultation mechanisms (RSPO 2006).
3.1.3 Stakeholder Perspective as an Essential Element of Good
Policy Processes
As the nations mature economically, the size of resources available to the government, in relation to the scale of national economy, shrinks. On the other hand, certain public services must be provided in order to maintain the nation as an association
of free individuals. In this environment, public services, which were provided solely
by the government sector, need to be restructured around a voluntary agreement
among stakeholders including private corporations as well as civil society organizations. This trend has been particularly evident in Japan in the last few years. The
current Democratic Party administration has been promoting “the new public (atarashii ko-kyo)” initiatives which attempt to minimize the direct involvement of the
government – which has been pursed under the previous administration that can be
characterized as the most neoliberal regime in the history of modern Japan – while
addressing the public service needs through voluntary or civil society organizations.
Rather than just letting the market decide, the new initiatives try to take care of the
necessary public functions by fostering collaborations among the government, civil
society organizations, as well as private corporations.
The same kind of collaborative arrangement is important in the realm of international governance because fundamentally all decisions are in reality based on voluntary agreements among nation-states and other stakeholding parties. Because of
the Westphalian sovereignty of nation-states, no institution can force a nation to
take a certain course of actions unless in extraordinary situations. Under this constraint, stakeholding parties in the global context need to reach a voluntary agreement that they can live with.
3 Stakeholder Perspective and Multilevel Governance
Lausanne, organizes seven chambers which correspond to their conception of stakeholders. They are (1) farmers and growers of biofuel feedstocks; (2) industrial biofuel producers; (3) retailers/blenders, transportation industry, and banks/investors;
(4) rights-based NGOs (including land, water, human, and labor rights) and trade
unions; (5) rural development or food security organizations and smallholder farmer
organizations or indigenous peoples’ organizations or community-based civil society organizations; (6) environment or conservation organizations and climate
change or policy organizations; and (7) intergovernmental organizations (IGOs),
governments, standard setters, specialist advisory agencies, certification agencies,
and consultant experts. Under these headings, stakeholders from around the world
convene to the roundtable and take responsibilities in developing and maintaining a
global governance structure on the sustainable biofuels. A similar effort, Roundtable
for Sustainable Palm Oil, defines stakeholders as “An individual or group with a
legitimate and/or demonstrable interest in, or who is directly affected by, the activities of an organisation and the consequences of those activities,” and encourages
their participation through various consultation mechanisms (RSPO 2006).
3.1.3 Stakeholder Perspective as an Essential Element of Good
Policy Processes
As the nations mature economically, the size of resources available to the government, in relation to the scale of national economy, shrinks. On the other hand, certain public services must be provided in order to maintain the nation as an association
of free individuals. In this environment, public services, which were provided solely
by the government sector, need to be restructured around a voluntary agreement
among stakeholders including private corporations as well as civil society organizations. This trend has been particularly evident in Japan in the last few years. The
current Democratic Party administration has been promoting “the new public (atarashii ko-kyo)” initiatives which attempt to minimize the direct involvement of the
government – which has been pursed under the previous administration that can be
characterized as the most neoliberal regime in the history of modern Japan – while
addressing the public service needs through voluntary or civil society organizations.
Rather than just letting the market decide, the new initiatives try to take care of the
necessary public functions by fostering collaborations among the government, civil
society organizations, as well as private corporations.
The same kind of collaborative arrangement is important in the realm of international governance because fundamentally all decisions are in reality based on voluntary agreements among nation-states and other stakeholding parties. Because of
the Westphalian sovereignty of nation-states, no institution can force a nation to
take a certain course of actions unless in extraordinary situations. Under this constraint, stakeholding parties in the global context need to reach a voluntary agreement that they can live with.
3 Stakeholder Perspective and Multilevel Governance