In Defense of Soft Law and Public-Private Initiatives: A Means to an End? -- The Malaysian Case
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Vanitha Sundra-Karean
This discussion offers a theoretical framework towards the discovery and amalgamation of conceptions within hard labor law and soft law initiatives which may spring from deliberately designed public-private initiatives as well as spontaneous market-driven responses. A case in defense of soft law is made for Malaysia on the basis of political realism. Agents of soft law initiatives are evaluated with a focus on public and private codes. I argue that for Malaysia, the stage is being set for divergent regulatory approaches to labor, with differing consequences and outcomes. Some of these outcomes, as will be illustrated, may not be consciously designed but are likely to occur spontaneously. The focus of the discussion will be on the changing nature of labor norms in individual employment law, the advent of human rights reasoning and the interdependence of the organic forces in a particular jurisdiction that drive the labor agenda. The discussion concludes with an argument in praise of soft law as a viable agent for driving change in hard labor law, whilst maintaining its soft law character, thus contributing to the varieties of hybrid labor regulation.
©2011 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Article
- Introduction
- Transnational Labor Regulation and the Limits of Governance
- Global Justice, Labor Standards and Responsibility
- In Defense of Soft Law and Public-Private Initiatives: A Means to an End? -- The Malaysian Case
- Private Environmental Governance in Hard Times: Markets for Virtue and the Dynamics of Regulatory Change
- Transnational Governance as the Layering of Rules: Intersections of Public and Private Standards
- Private Environmental Governance as Ensemble Regulation: A Critical Exploration of Sustainability Indexes and the New Ensemble Politics
- The Efficacy of Regulation as a Function of Psychological Fit: Reexamining the Hard Law/Soft Law Continuum
- Signaling Virtue? A Comparison of Corporate Codes in the Fields of Labor and Environment
- The ISO 26000 International Guidance Standard on Social Responsibility: Implications for Public Policy and Transnational Democracy
Articles in the same Issue
- Article
- Introduction
- Transnational Labor Regulation and the Limits of Governance
- Global Justice, Labor Standards and Responsibility
- In Defense of Soft Law and Public-Private Initiatives: A Means to an End? -- The Malaysian Case
- Private Environmental Governance in Hard Times: Markets for Virtue and the Dynamics of Regulatory Change
- Transnational Governance as the Layering of Rules: Intersections of Public and Private Standards
- Private Environmental Governance as Ensemble Regulation: A Critical Exploration of Sustainability Indexes and the New Ensemble Politics
- The Efficacy of Regulation as a Function of Psychological Fit: Reexamining the Hard Law/Soft Law Continuum
- Signaling Virtue? A Comparison of Corporate Codes in the Fields of Labor and Environment
- The ISO 26000 International Guidance Standard on Social Responsibility: Implications for Public Policy and Transnational Democracy
