Business, Human Rights, and Reflexive Regulation: Multi-stakeholder Development of Standards for Responsible Business Conduct

Focusing on the “how” (process) which leads to the “what” (result) this chapter applies the lens of reflexive law as a theory for multi-stakeholder regulation to understand and explain the evolution of normative guidance for businesses in regard to their human rights impacts. With an emphasis on how authorities can stimulate the co-creation with business and civil society and acceptance of norms on responsible business conduct in a context in which conventional regulatory competences or capacities are not well-suited for the objectives at hand, the chapter considers the United Nations (UN) Global Compact, the UN “Protect, Respect and Remedy” Framework, and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. In doing so it also demonstrates how reflexive law can be applied as a regulatory theory to help advance agreed norm-making across diverse interests. The relevance of this exceeds the field of business and human rights.