6Regulatory Efforts

Negotiation is a decision-making process for peaceful resolution of a fundamental disagreement. It has become omnipresent on the international scene, the aim being to bring the positions and interests of both sides closer together to reach a mutually acceptable solution. The upsurge in multilateral negotiations has been accompanied by increased diversification of the actors involved, as well as by a heightened interdependence of the themes and arenas of negotiation. Mediation involving recourse to external agents may be undertaken in the face of the tensions encountered, particularly when seeking a way out of certain armed conflicts.

Multilateralism, in its normative dimension, appeared in the nineteenth century when international actors were attempting to resolve problems of mutual interest. As both a resource and constraint for the most powerful, it redefines the power dynamics. The transformations it produces renew the issues of international cooperation, which are now posed in terms of governance.

The twentieth century witnessed a marked tendency towards regionalism which has affected all areas worldwide. Multiple regional entanglements form a complex global scenario and cover different practices. Despite crisis diagnoses, regional institutions play their part in defining and managing major contemporary problems.

Since 1945, international law has undergone significant development, becoming more diverse and complex. Its aim is no longer solely to oversee coexistence between sovereign states (in terms of peace, security, and cooperation); it now intervenes within states to ensure the wellbeing of individuals and peoples (“liberal welfare” state regimes). Protection of human rights has also been strengthened by the expansion of international humanitarian law, international penal justice mechanisms, and traditional justice, as well as by the extension of covered spheres (security, trade, work, health, environment, and so on).

States have set up bilateral and multilateral agreements to resolve conflicts arising from the disparity between their private laws. But these efforts do not sum up the regulatory practices based on private rules. A growing number of private actors, who self-regulate or cooperate with public actors, are putting a great deal of effort into formulating norms and creating quasi-judicial regulatory mechanisms, so that legal experts are wondering whether a global law exists.

The liberalization of world trade continues, despite economic crises, protectionist pressures, and the entanglement of conflicting dynamics between numerous actors (MNF, SME, Southern or Northern states, WTO, NGO, etc.).

In order to deter speculative behavior, without compromising the role this plays in financing economic activity, strict supervision of financial markets was introduced after the great Depression in 1929. This system came to an end during the 1980s, swept away by a vast liberal movement in favor of deregulation. The effect of this was an exponential growth of global finance, punctuated by ever more frequent crises with profound economic and social consequences. Despite vague talk of reestablishing stricter governance after the 2008 crisis, states remain powerless to tighten control, both for ideological reasons and because of their close relationship with financial actors.

In the twentieth century, social protection, whose objective is to reduce and prevent lifelong poverty and vulnerability, became an issue of economic, social—and now environmental—development, as well as a (national and international) peacemaking tool and a basic human right in the name of human dignity. However, it still only concerns a minority of individuals in Africa, the Asia-Pacific region and the Near East; those who are without it are exposed to poverty, inequality, and social exclusion.

Humanitarian action relies on the impartial and universal commitment of those involved, for the purpose of alleviating the suffering of populations in emergency situations. The transformation of contemporary conflicts, the evolution of international relationships, and the questioning of universalism have led to the operational contexts of aid workers being developed and the legitimacy of their interventions being challenged.

In the early 1970s, the environment was revealed to be an international problem—multilevel, multisectoral, multi-actor and transborder. Not only does the cross-boundary nature of environmental issues complicate their management, but the absence of clear leadership in terms of international governance also weakens a fragmented system which has potentially competing regulatory tools at its disposal.