Global Administrative Law
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Description
Global administrative law can be understood as comprising the legal rules, principles, and institutional norms applicable to processes of ‘administration’ undertaken in ways that implicate more than purely intra-State structures of legal and political authority. The term ‘global administrative law’ came into use during the first decade of the 21st century. It encompasses most of the subject-matter addressed by jurists in the 19th and 20th centuries under the rubric of ‘international administrative law’ and, like this early work it proceeds from a view of what constitutes ‘administration’ beyond a purely domestic context, including some activities of national administrative agencies, and many activities of international organizations. But this newer term is preferred to avoid the misleading implication that the field is simply a branch of general international law and thus can be structured in terms of traditional (and now much-contested) criteria for → sources of international law and → subjects of international law. The variety of actors involved, the fact that many of these actors are primordial rather than exercising authority delegated by States, and the range of persons and processes affected by global administrative actors, make sharp distinctions between spheres of national and international administration increasingly difficult to maintain. Instead, much administration is taking place in what might be thought of as a global administrative space, involving blurring of national and international, and public and private, dimensions. Global administration (lato sensu) is of growing significance as both a result and a shaping feature of global ordering. Global administration can have serious effects on individuals and their rights, and on possibilities of national or local democracy or autonomy, as well as other deeply held values. Understanding the processes and trajectories of global administration thus has substantial practical and normative importance. Such an undertaking is rendered challenging by the massive volume, polycentricity, and obscurity of the interactions which constitute this administration. The patterns of power and authority in global administration are much less structured than those underpinning major parts of many domestic administrative systems. Institutional differentiation is less complete, roles are not clearly assigned, hierarchies are not highly specified, and bright lines do not exist between the spheres of administration and legislation or between administrative and constitutional principles and review authorities. Law and law-like structures play an increasingly significant role in global administration. Law has a dual effect, both channelling and magnifying administrative power, and constraining this power. Thus, adherence to legal standards and patterns can normalize and legitimatize the use of power, but law can also provide a basis for contestation, critique, and change in power and its exercise. However, global administrative law principles and mechanisms primarily address process values, rather than substantive values (such as distributive justice, political democracy, sustainability, non-domination, or individual autonomy and capabilities), which are extremely difficult to ground as generally-accepted bases for most global administrative structures. The focus on process limits the ambit and ambition of global administrative law, and attracts the criticism that it embraces current power structures and inequalities by militating for incremental reforms rather than radical revision.
Source Publication
Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law
Source Editors/Authors
Rüdiger Wolfrum
Publication Date
2012
Volume Number
4
Recommended Citation
Kingsbury, Benedict and Donaldson, Megan, "Global Administrative Law" (2012). Faculty Chapters. 976.
https://gretchen.law.nyu.edu/fac-chapt/976
