Book Review: The Governance Gap: Extractive Industries, Human Rights, and the Home State Advantage, by Penelope Simons and Audrey Macklin
(2014) 52 Canadian Yearbook of International Law 641-648
9 Pages Posted: 25 Nov 2015
Date Written: November 17, 2015
Abstract
This is a book review of The Governance Gap: Extractive Industries, Human Rights, and the Home State Advantage, written by Penelope Simons and Audrey Macklin and published in 2014. The book is part of the Routledge studies in governance and change in the global era series. The book addresses the question of how best to respond effectively to the problem of corporate human rights impunity in zones of weak governance. Should international law intervene, or should responsibility lie only with individual states and if so, should it be with home states or with host states or both? The book reviewer identifies the authors' principal thesis as follows: home states are uniquely equipped to respond to contribute significantly to closing the governance gap in the globalization of commerce within the human rights sphere. The reviewer argues that while the authors make a strong case for home state regulation, it is far from their thoughts that home state regulation alone is adequate. On the contrary, the reviewer argues, the authors believe that closing the governance gap requires a multi-pronged approach, at various jurisdictional points, which must include home state regulation.
Keywords: extractive industries, governance gap, human rights, home state regulation
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