Towards the Participation of a Global Public in Transnational Law-making? Everyday ICT Platforms as Legitimacy Opportunities for Bottom-up Governance

This chapter looks at the role that information and communication technologies (ICT) may play in involving people in remote areas in processes that feed into global law- and policy-making. It focuses on the potential of mobile phones. The chapter argues that the use of information and communication technology (ICT) offers unique opportunities to provide bottom-up input to transnational law-making. It presents the methodology, introducing the applied pragmatic approach, the grander theoretical framework with an emphasis on transnational law; and the business and human rights (BHR) regime as a case for studying broadly inclusive multi-­stakeholder transnational law-making on issues of global concern. The chapter addresses core elements of Habermasian theory on legitimate law-making in a transnational context, the deployment of ICT in the evolution of the BHR regime and the role that ICT already plays in the Global South for economic and political participation.