The law doth punish man or womanThat steals the goose from off the CommonBut lets the greater felon looseThat steals the Common from the goose.

(Anonymous response to Sir Charles Pratt's fencing of common land in 1764).

Regulation from below: Civil societies and social movements

How and why do corporations get into the business of “regulation” and “citizenship?”

A norm against some “normal” practice

emerges

Racial segregation is immoral and unjust

Awareness of this practice becomes

widespread

Graphic evidence of action is disseminated

Public concern is communicated to

authorities

Demonstrations, rallies, violent response

State acts to change practice through legislation

Racial segregation is both illegal and “non-

normalized”

Struggles in Congress, states, streets

Violations of law and ethics are simply not

done

Norms become established as ethical restrictions

Groups and movements in civil society mobilize

around issues of concern

Movement to ban slave trade began among educated

British bourgeoisie in late 1700s

Combination of tactics are used to pressure political elites, who

capitulate under pressure from their

constiuencies

Graphics of slave ships, anger about impressment of sailors, economic actions &

boycotts

Political elites take up issue; economic elites

warn of disaster

Bills introduced in Parliament, to much opposition and

derision; events also play a role

Political change takes place as a result of changing

economy and public pressure

Britain abolished slavery in 1806, slave trade in 1830s and later instituted abolition in its

colonies

Political change usually takes place through public action

Global system of governance through

political economy

Decentralized, no legitimate center of political authority

Highly marketized, with many centers of market

authority

Very indirect political representation, with a major

democratic deficit

Direct consumer influence through “votes” via

preferences and choices

Very indirect political representation, with a major

democratic deficit

Strong channels of economic pressure through boycotts and

shaming of corporations

Feudal political units were not separated into state, market,

society

Social hierarchies were organized

around economy and rule

Early capitalist societies began to

separate subsistence from production

Growing numbers of urban subjects made

livings through goods and services

Feudal society was gradually replaced by market-based society

Those with property and money sought protection against

unjust seizure

What is their relationship to state and market?

Sometimes they allied with landlords in clashes with the sovereign over new

rights

Sometimes they allied with the sovereign in clashes with landlords over old

rights

Ultimately, the sovereign transferred political rights

over property from the state to holders of property

Bourgeois civil associations sought to maintain new

rights, e.g., the political vote

Bourgeois-led social movements fought for new rights, e.g., worker’s right to form unions

The bourgeoisie allied with those who would protect property rights

Consider the ICC: is it “needed” and

why?

Crimes in violation of human rights

There is no int’l forum to adjudicate

Individuals have no int’l standing“Rule of law” appears desirable

Why might the ICC be unwanted (by

some)?

States favor domestic laws & courts

States don’t wish to be defendantsState agents may be tried (POWs)States cannot control proceedings

Yet the Statute of Rome has become international law:

why?

Crimes committed in “other” places

Deterrent against invasion (power)Broadens legal system & culture