Transnationale Praktiken der Vermittlung im Regulativen Kapitalismus

Abstract

In recent years, transnational regulation research has focused on intermediary actors. I propose to turn the spotlight on the practices of intermediation themselves. I highlight two components of intermediation for this purpose: translation and form investment. Translation emphasizes processes of adaptation that occur when different orders of justification and worlds of production come together to concretize and change general norms and rules. Form investment emphasizes the related fabrication of more or less stable configurations and infrastructures of coordination that are still poorly established transnationally. We can thus understand regulatory practices in a productive sense: They change or stabilize forms of control, knowledge, but also objects of regulation and capacities for action. This article illustrates these theoretical considerations using the United Nations Global Compact as an example: While this voluntary learning and exchange forum is a weak regulatory instrument, the intermediation perspective points to powerful effects that result from management-oriented measurement and representation of international human rights and ecological standards.