Des filetages à la RSE : normalisation et démocratie : sociologie du processus d'élaboration d'ISO 26000
(2009)
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- Abstract
- (en) This research addresses the question of the democratization of global decision making, focusing on non-state regulations at the international level that have increased over the past thirty years. The setting of multi-stakeholder processes is becoming a prerequisite for non-state actors developing normative instruments in the public policy realm. Is this evolution synonymous of a democratization of these forms of regulation? This question is addressed through the case study of ISO 26000 developing process. The aim given to this future standard - intended to be published in 2010 - is to provide common guidance to all types of organizations, located anywhere in the world, on concept, definitions and method of evaluation linked to their social responsibility. As its name indicates, ISO 26000 is produced by the International Organization for Standardization (the so-called ISO), the world's largest developer of international standards - that is voluntary rules established by consensus aimed at the achievement of the optimum degree of order in a given context. Two characteristics of the future ISO 26000 are particularly emblematic of issues at stakes in the contemporary expansion of international standardization in a context of globalization: its object and the procedure used for its development. Its object - social responsibility - corresponds to the current extension of standardization in the public policy realm. This expansion is not new. However, the idea of producing an ISO standard on social responsibility was very controversial and generated a few years of intense debates. Hence new procedural rules were put in place to deal with criticisms fearing the intervention of a non-democratically elected body in the field of public policy. For the first time in ISO's history, freedom was given to the experts in charge of developing ISO 26000 to change some of its setting process rules. The aim was to improve the inclusivity and the transparency of the procedure. This evolution can be interpreted as an attempt to democratize ISO. The aim of our empirical analysis is to make an evaluation of this attempt to democratize ISO procedure. Qualitative data - observations, interviews, collection of documents - have been gathered following the process of developing the content of ISO 26000 from 2006 to 2008 in Belgium and internationally. Our evaluation focuses on the potential benefits provided by a democratization of the procedure from an intrinsic point of view - equality of access and influence - and from an instrumental point of view - adhesion to the process and its fruits but also substantial contributions. However, we show that it is impossible to achieve all these objectives. Not only democracy is inherently flawed, but in addition, there are some contradictions and tensions between the principles it articulates. In the conclusion, we therefore put forward the necessary trade-offs to find the best possible balance between the different tensions. We show that these trade-offs are not limited to ISO, but are faced by other producers of CSR standards. At the end of our conclusion, we suggest an alternative to the restructuring of the ISO if the organization wishes to pursue the course of the democratization of its structure and procedure.
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Citations
Ruwet, C. (2009). Des filetages à la RSE : normalisation et démocratie : sociologie du processus d’élaboration d’ISO 26000. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/241324