Networking Goes International: An Update

Abstract

This literature review asks three questions of the scholarship on the regulatory networks that have so transformed global governance. First, what are these networks good for? We summarize the state of the literature on regulatory races, the fit between networks and the process of globalization, and the crucial role of the revolution in communications in the development of networks, introducing the topics with a brief intellectual history of regulatory network analysis in international relations and international law scholarship. Second, we examine how we can make sure that regulatory networks are good by asking this question: How might necessary and appropriate accountability mechanisms for the networks be constructed? The answers to these questions are at the foundation of a global administrative law, which is itself the subject of a burgeoning scholarly literature. Our third question concerns the way regulatory networks fit into a world where traditional intergovernmental relations and formally constituted international organizations are still important. We conclude by identifying different ways in which networks and international organizations can complement each other and by spotlighting questions for future research.