Purpose – This paper seeks to take stock of core arguments in some of the most central governance traditions and to discuss their capacity to deliver solutions. It starts with an appraisal of the strengths and weaknesses of the ideas of market‐, state‐ and civil‐society‐led governance,...

Purpose – This paper sets out to argue for rethinking governance through the prism of Montesquieu's model of checks and balances within state powers. It aims to explore the parallel between the eighteenth century concept of division of power and the current need to engage and balance the...

Purpose – This article aims to explore the character of an emerging model of corporate social responsibility (CSR)‐oriented societal governance in an exchange theoretical perspective and to examine the distinctive characteristics of the relations between civil society, business and...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to note the remarkable expansion of corporate social responsibility (CSR) throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s. Taking this as point of departure, it aims to discuss the potential for aligning CSR‐oriented industrial self‐regulation with public...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the extreme case of the Icelandic banking crisis in relation to critical governance issues at governmental, industry and civil society levels. Design/methodology/approach – This is a case study of the Icelandic banking collapse in 2008....

Purpose – This study aims to analyze city networks as they face the challenges of global warming. It seeks to introduce the notion of “governance from the middle” as an alternative to traditional intergovernmental policy. This is developed by focusing on the particular experiences of the...

Purpose – This paper seeks to focus on the preconditions for forging International strategies to deal with social and environmental sustainability. Taking the Brundtland Report and its implied strategy based on inter‐governmental conferences and treaties at the global level as a point of...