Colloquia

Abstract

Certification is becoming a widespread approach for protecting workers and the environment in an era of free trade. Certification programs such as the chemical industry's Responsible Care initiative, the Forest Stewardship Council, and the anti-sweatshop movement, are growing in strength and reach. Certification institutions consist of rules governing corporate behavior, and mechanisms to report compliance to consumers and other stakeholders. Some of these institutions are created and maintained by firms alone (first-party), while others are established and run by trade associations (second-party) or non-governmental organizations, consultants, and other groups (third-party); governments have become involved in the establishment and operation of some of these institutions (fourth-party). Third-party certification and monitoring, in particular, may soon be the norm in many global industries.

While they strive to improve social and environmental protection, will these new institutions transform traditional power relationships? The move toward voluntary governance mechanisms links together diverse and often antagonistic actors from the local, national, and international levels. Although these institutions exist alongside and within national and international governance regimes, certification institutions govern corporate behavior in a global space that has eluded the control of states and international organizations.

In this colloquium, we bring together scholars, policymakers, business leaders, NGO activists, and certification institution leaders to discuss social and environmental certification. On the first day of the colloquium, we explore the certification trend: How do we define certification institutions? Why are they emerging now, and why have they changed over time? What roles have multinational corporations and non-governmental organizations played in the creation of certification institutions? Why have these groups taken up a burden that was once reserved for government?

On the second day of the colloquium, we evaluate the success of certification. What challenges have certification institutions faced as they have worked to fulfill their missions? Are certification institutions effectively addressing social and environmental protection? How should we measure their effectiveness? What role has the state played in the development and evolution of certification institutions? Should governments embrace this trend? How will certification change governance?

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5:00-9:00 p.m. Washington Duke Inn
Registration

8:00-9:30 p.m. Washington Duke Inn
Reception

Friday, December 7

8:00-9:00 Duke University School of Law, 4^th Floor
Registration and Continental Breakfast

9:00-9:15 School of Law Room 4045
Welcome
Jonathan Wiener, Faculty Director of the Center for Environmental Solutions
Gilbert Merkx, Vice Provost for International Affairs and Development

9:15-10:45
Introduction: The Certification Trend
How do we define certification institutions? When and where have certification institutions emerged? How have they changed over time? What has caused these changes?

              Moderator: Jonathan Wiener, Duke University School of Law,
                                  Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences,
                                  Faculty Director, Center for Environmental Solutions
              Speakers: Duke Project on Social and Environmental Certification
                                  Ronie Garcia-Johnson, Duke University, Nicholas School
                                  Erika Sasser, Duke University, Nicholas School
                                  Gary Gereffi, Duke University, Department of Sociology
                                  Ben Cashore, Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental
                                     Studies; Chair, Program on Forest Certification, Global Institute
                                     for Sustainable Forest Management

10:45-11:00 Break

11:00-12:30
Panel I—The Role of Non-governmental Organizations
What have NGOs done to make CI s necessary, to further their development, or even to build them? Are the costs of doing so worth the benefits?

              Moderator: Kathryn Saterson, Executive Director, Center for Environmental Solutions
              Speakers: Brooks Yeager, Vice President for Global Threats, World Wildlife Fund
                               Paul Rice, Executive Director, TransFair USA
                               Mike Allen, Director of External Affairs, Global Alliance

              Discussant: Ann Florini, Senior Associate and Director of the
                                   Transparency and Transnational Civil Society Project,
                                   Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

1:00-2:30 School of Law, Burdman Lounge
Lunch

Keynote Address: Virginia Haufler
              Associate Professor Department of Government and Politics, University of Maryland
              Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
              Author of A Public Role for Private Sector: Industry Self-Regulation in a Global
                 Economy

3:00-4:30 School of Law Room 4045
Panel II: The Role of Multinational Corporations
What have MNCs done to make certification institutions necessary, to further their development, or even to build them? Are the costs of doing so worth the benefits?

              Moderator:  Steven L. Schwarcz, Duke University School of Law,
                                    Global Capital Markets Center
              Speakers:   Todd McKean, Director of Compliance Programs and Services, Nike
                                 Jessica Eskow, Manager of Environmental Strategies,
                                     International Paper
              Discussant:  Dennis Rondinelli, Kenan-Flagler Business School, UNC-Chapel Hill

Saturday, December 8

8:00-9:00 School of Law, 4^th floor
Continental Breakfast

9:00-10:30 School of Law Room 4045
Panel III—Certification -- An Insider's Perspective
What challenges have certification institutions faced over time? How do they define success, and are they close to achieving it?

              Moderator: Frederick Mayer, Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy
              Speakers:   Dan Roczniak, Director of Implementation and Performance for
                                      Responsible Care
                                 Judy Gearhart, Program Director, Social Accountability International
              Discussant:  Aseem Prakash, The George Washington University, School of
                                      Business and Public Management

10:45-11:00 Break

11:00-12:30
Panel IV —Grappling with Effectiveness
What constitutes an "effective" certification institution? How should effectiveness be defined and measured?

              Moderator: Rutledge Tufts, Auxiliary Services Director, Co-Chair Licensing
                                    Labor Code Advisory Committee, UNC-Chapel Hill
              Speakers:   Dara O’Rourke, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
                                    Department of Urban Studies and Planning
                                 Pete Andrews, Department of Environmental Sciences and
                                     Engineering, UNC-Chapel Hill
              Discussant:  Dan Fiorino, Director, Performance Incentives Division
                                    United States Environmental Protection Agency

12:30-2:00 Burdman Lounge, School of Law
Lunch

Keynote Speaker: Mike Conroy,
                             Senior Program Officer, The Ford Foundation

                             "Taming the Genie? What Limits for Certification Institutions?"

2:00-4:00 Law School Room 4045
Roundtable: Certification Institutions and Public Governance
How has the state approached the certification trend? How should it do so? What is the role of the private sector, including business groups and firms, as the state makes decisions about certification? Is social and environmental certification here to stay?

              Moderator: Christopher Schroeder, Duke University, School of Law and                                  Terry Sanford Institute
              Speakers: Errol Meidinger, State University of New York, Buffalo
                               Stuart Hart, Kenan-Flagler School of Business, UNC-Chapel Hill
                               Kathryn Harrison, University of British Columbia

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Publications

*Colloquium participants have provided links to various related papers.

Conroy, Michael E. September 2001. "Can Advocacy-Led Certification Systems Transform Global Corporate Practices? Evidence, and Some Theory." A paper written for the Natural Assets Project of the Program on Development, Peacebuilding, and the Environment at Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), University of Massachusetts Amherst. PERI Working Paper No. DPE-01-07

Ronie Garcia-Johnson, Gary Gereffi, Erika Sasser. October 2000."Certification Institution Emergence: Explaining Variation."
[PDF:explaining_variation.pdf] [Word:explaining_variation.doc]

Garcia-Johnson, Ronie. November 2001. Certification Institutions in the Protection of the Environment: Exploring the Implications for Governance. Paper presented at the 23rd Annual Research Conference of the Association for Public Policy, Analysis & Management, November 1, 2001, Washington, DC.
[PDF:rgjappamnov.pdf] [Word:rgjappamnov.doc]

Garcia-Johnson, Ronie. February 2001. Beyond Corporate Culture: Reputation, Rules, and the Function of Certification Institutions. Working Paper #1: Duke Project on Social and Environmental Certification. [PDF:BeyondCorpCult.pdf] [Word:BeyondCorpCult.doc]

Garcia-Johnson, Ronie. February 2001. Multinational Corporations and Global Trade Associations: Moving First to Shape a Green Global Production Context. Paper presented at the International Studies Association Conference, Chicago, IL. [PDF:rgj_isa_mncs.pdf] [Word:rgj.isa.mncs.doc]

R. Garcia-Johnson, G. Gereffi, E. Sasser. July/August 2001. The NGO-Industrial Complex. Foreign Policy. Available at http://www.foreignpolicy.com/issue_julyaug_2001/gereffi.html

Ruggie, John G. "The Theory and Practice of Learning Networks:Corporate Social Responsibility and the Global Compact." [PDF:j_corporate_citizenship.pdf] [Word:j_corporate_citizenship.doc]

Sasser, Erika N. March 2001. "Gaining Leverage: NGO Influence on Certification Institutions in the Forest Products Sector." Paper presented at the Forest Policy Center's Global Initiatives and Public Policies: First International Conference on Private Forestry in the 21st Century, Atlanta, Georgia, March 26, 2001. [PDF:gaining_leverage.pdf] [Word:gaining_leverage.doc]

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