Fukuoka conference: Regulatory Hybridization in the Transnational Sphere

Professor Toshiyuki Kono of the Kyushu University is organising a two-day international conference titled “Regulatory Hybridization in the Transnational Sphere“. Motivation for choosing this particular topic and the features of the conference are described by the organiser as follows:

[N]ational laws and public international law are no longer the exclusive regulatory authorities today. Instead, regulatory initiatives are shared by a complex network of nation States, international organizations and transnational private communities as a result of processes such as globalization, privatization, outsourcing, and self-regulation. Accordingly, national domestic laws, public international norms, and the newly proliferating private regulations co-exist in the current condition of transnational law. Furthermore, indirect connections between these three regulatory forms have increasingly developed, resulting in the proliferation of innovative hybrid forms of regulation. […]

The purpose of this conference is to explore various issues relating to hybrid normative structures in the transnational sphere. For this purpose, the conference underscores inter alia the following questions:

1. If regulatory hybridization does not simply consist of a reintegration of norms, and if it is not simply the delegation of the rule-making authority to self-regulatory institutions, what precisely does the contemporary hybridization of norms refer to?
2. What are the primary merits & de-merits of hybrid forms of governance?
3. Can the proliferation of hybrid forms of governance be explained solely by reference to efficiency or is it being driven by other factors?
4. What conceptual tools are most helpful in clarifying the precise form of regulatory hybridization?

The conference will take place on 11 and 12 February 2012 at the Kyushu University, Nishijin Plaza, Fukuoka (Japan). Additional information is available at the conference website, including the program.