Professor Stefan Rencken’s book “Private Governance and Public Authority: Regulating Sustainability in a Global Economy,” (Cambridge University Press) won the 2021 CPSA Prize in International Relations. The Canadian Political Science Association website describes the book as follows: “The volume explores the conditions under which governments intervene in the regulation of private governance systems in the European Union. In two case studies, organic agriculture and biofuels, public authorities intervened to establish standards and in two cases, Fair Trade and fisheries, they did not. The study develops a theoretical model to account for these differences. The analysis makes a contribution to the literature in International Relations on private authority by focusing specifically on the agency and interests of private actors in private-public regulatory arrangements. The volume is amply documented.”
Private Governance and Public Authority, has also been given an Honorable Mention by the IPE Best Book Award Committee. The selection committee, chaired by Michael Breen, notes: "Private Governance and Public Authority is an exceptionally well researched book that investigates the conditions under which public authority regulates private governance. This book offers an elegantly stated and highly original theoretical argument combined with careful and detailed empirical work. "