Regulatory Transformations: Rethinking Economy-Society Interactions (Oñati International Series in Law and Society)

The issue of whether transnational risk can be regulated through a social sphere goes to the heart of what John Ruggie has described as 'embedded liberalism' - how capitalist countries have reconciled markets with the social community that markets require to survive and thrive. This collection - located in the wider debates about global capitalism and its regulation - tackles the challenge of finding a way forward for regulation, rejecting the old division of regulation into 'economic' and 'social,' as if the two were conceptually and empirically distinct. Instead, the book engages with a critical theme - the idea of regulating through a social sphere - recognizing the embeddedness of economic transactions within a social and political landscape. A key strength of the book is its integration of three distinct areas of scholarship: Karl Polanyi's economic sociology, regulation studies, and socio-legal studies of transnational hazards. It is distinct in that it links the study of specific transnational risk regulatory regimes back to a social-theoretical discussion about economy-society interactions, informed by Polanyi's work. Each contribution addresses the way in which economics - as well as economic and social regulation - can never be understood separately from the social, particularly in the transnational context. (Series: Onati International Series in Law and Society) [Subject: Socio-Legal Studies, Economic Law, International Law]