Transnational Private Governance Under Stress: The Case of Standardization

Session Submission Type: Virtual Full Paper Panel

Session Description

Technical standard-setting is a prime example of the significance of “transnational private governance” in the global economic order (Graz and Nölke 2007). The globalization of standard-setting in the last half century has significantly raised the stakes of standardization work since adoption of a firm’s preferred standard has direct and significant implications for global competitiveness. Industry players aim to capture lucrative first mover advantages by sprinting ahead of their competitors on standard development and securing globally-accepted standards on high tech topics.

In the early 21st century, global standard-setting organizations (SSOs) are under considerable strain as a result of two distinct forces. First, technical change in the Internet era has given rise to a new generation of SSOs and industry consortia that operate outside of the established system anchored to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). This dispersion of standard-setting authority at the global level has created a “larger and less unified community of standardizers” (Yates and Murphy 2019, p. 335). Second, standard-setters’ globalist ethos has been severely tested by the emergence of economic latecomers, such as South Korea and China. In contrast to the image of openness presented by SSOs, latecomers and less-developed Global South countries face high barriers to entry in these communities rooted physically and culturally in the transatlantic region (Lee and Oh 2006; Choung, Ji and Hameed 2011; Wood 2012; Weithmann 2017). China’s efforts to move from a standard-taker to standard-maker have proven especially controversial within standardization communities habituated to the dominance of practitioners from Global North countries.

In this panel, contributors explore adaptation and rigidity within standardization communities facing these unprecedented challenges: How are the ISO and other transnational SSOs adapting to the global dispersion of standard-setting authority? What strategies are employed by economic latecomers to cope with formal and informal barriers to entry in transnational standardization processes? How are practitioners from historically dominant standard-setting countries reacting to new and increasingly powerful players from the Global South?

With participants based in four countries and from diverse disciplinary backgrounds, this panel embodies this year’s theme of pluralism. Lee’s study of the geopolitics of digital standards wars draws on his interdisciplinary background in information systems and sociology. Based on his many years of close study of the ISO, legal scholar Wood analyzes whether this body will ultimately “bend” or “break” facing its new challenges. Political scientists Fuchs and Eaton employ the International Relations (IR) “practice turn” literature in their study of the puzzling Sino-German technical standardization partnership. Raymond’s analysis of the lessons of internet governance for standardization is also rooted in IR theory. These interdisciplinary perspectives illuminate new facets of a complex and rapidly-changing topic.

Choung, J.Y., Ji, I., and Hameed, T., 2011. International Standardization Strategies of Latecomers: The Cases of Korean TPEG, T-DMB, and Binary CDMA. World Development, 39 (5), 824-838.

Graz, J.C. and Nölke, A., eds., 2007. Transnational private governance and its limits. London and New York: Routledge.

Lee, H. and Oh, S., 2006. A standards war waged by a developing country: Understanding international standard setting from the actor-network perspective. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 15 (3), 177-195.

Weithmann, S., 2017. The Evolvement of Standards in China. Insights from the Electric Vehicle Sector. Baden-Baden: Nomos.

Wood, S., 2012. The International Organization for Standardization. In: D. Reed et al., eds. Business Regulation and Non-State Actors. Whose standards? Whose development? New York: Routledge, 81-94.

Yates, J. and Murphy, C.N., 2019. Engineering Rules. Global Standard Setting since 1880. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Sub Unit

• Division 16: International Political Economy

Individual Presentations

• The ISO Under Stress: Will It Bend or Break? - Stepan Wood, University of British Columbia

• Diffusion of Practice: The Sino-German Technical Standardization Partnership - Daniel Fuchs, Humboldt University of Berlin; Sarah Eaton, Humboldt University Berlin

• ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee: Hybrid Institutions & Global Governance - Mark Raymond, University of Oklahoma

• Geopolitics of Standards Wars: A Perspective of International Political Economy - Heejin Lee, Yonsei University

Chair

• Genia Kostka Freie Universität Berlin

Discussants

• Tim Buthe Technical University of Munich (TUM)

• Alanna Krolikowski Missouri University of Science and Technology