Hard Choices, Soft Law: Voluntary Standards in Global Trade, Environment and Social Governance [Hardcover]

An important read for academics and policy-makers alike, Hard Choices, Soft Law asserts that voluntary standards, or 'soft' law, are an important supplement to international law in a number of areas. This key work firstly outlines the approach taken to combining soft and hard law and trade, environment and labour values in the WTO and NAFTA, and in the prospective Millennium Round. Then, using the forestry sector - a realm where formal international law remains largely absent - the book provides a detailed examination of the role of soft law in action. It demonstrates how soft and hard law can be combined to promote trade, environmental and social cohesion, in ways that also permit sustainable development. The book presents a wealth of knowledge from a range of contributors familiar with the work of the G7/G8, the OECD, the Biodiversity Convention and the Codex Alimentarius.Contents: Introduction: hard choices and soft law in sustainable global governance, John J. Kirton and Michael J. Trebilcock. Setting Standards for Sustainable Forestry: Nonstate global governance: is forest certification a legitimate alternative to a global forest convention?, Steven Bernstein and Benjamin Cashore; The Forest Stewardship Council: a developing country perspective, Tasso Rezende de Azevedo; Indigenous rights and forest certification in British Columbia, Chris Tollefson. Setting Standards for Labour: Codes of corporate conduct and the labour regulatory state in developing countries, Adelle Blackett; Standard setting at the International Labour Organization: the case of precarious employment, Leah F. Vosko; Hard law or soft law: India and international labour standards, C.S. Venkata Ratnam and Anil Verma; Trade policy and labour standards: objectives, instruments and institutions, Michael J. Trebilcock. Creating Codes of Corporate Responsibility: Corporate social responsibility and the evolution of international norms, Hevina S. Dashwood; The role of nongovernmental organizations anlã‰