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This article examines the institutional impact of environmental management systems (EMSs), focusing on ISO 1400 1. It develops a pluralistic framework for thinking about the dynamic of corporate self-regulation that we term the polyphonic model. It argues that the adoption of ISO 14001 can move the firm into a new equilibrium trajectory, which enmeshes together environmental and economic goals and reflects greater sensitivity to ecological concerns. There is a positive reciprocal cycle between the pro-environmental structural changes induced by ISO 14001 and the employees’ attitudes toward the firm and the environment. In order to examine ISO 14001 institutional impact, we conducted a series of interviews with managers and administered questionnaires to employees in 24 Israeli firms with and without certification. The findings indicate that the perceived environmental commitment of certified firms was higher than that of noncertified firms and was higher among employees that perceived the EMS as more highly integrated in the firm. Perceptions of the standard’s integration were also found to be positively correlated with personal environmental commitment. The results also indicate that the increase in the firm’s environmental commitment was positively associated with employees’ organizational citizenship behavior within certified firms. Further indications of the pro-environmental dynamic induced by ISO 14001 were found in the in-depth interviews.

Over the last years, the environmental regulation system has undergone radical changes. Various private normative schemes play an increasingly important role in this new regulatory sphere. One of the main questions raised by this process is whether, and to what extent, private regulatory arrangements can replace public regulation. The question of the efficacy of private regulatory schemes reflects a broader dilemma concerning the circumstances under which firms will take environmental actions that go beyond what is prescribed by law. This article explores this question, focusing on the ISO 14001 environmental management system (EMS), which is the most common voluntary environmental standard in the world (ISO 2008: 10), serving also as the EMS of the EU eco-management and audit scheme (EMAS).1

In exploring the puzzle of the efficacy of EMSs, we draw on a new model of the firm that we term the polyphonic model. According to this model, which is inspired by the writings of Luhmann and Nelson, firms and other organizations are depicted as dynamic, self-organized decision-processing systems, which can accommodate multiple logics and cultural themes. We argue that this model provides a coherent framework for thinking about the way in which different logics intertwine in the context of the modern corporation.

Tags: Environmental Commitment, ISO 14001

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The liberalization of India’s economy since 1991 has brought with it considerable development of its financial markets and supporting legal institutions. An influential body of economic scholarship asserts that a country’s “legal origin” – as a civilian or common law jurisdiction – plays an important part in determining the development of its investor protection regulations, and consequently its financial development. An alternative theory claims that the determinants of investor protection are political, rather than legal. We use the case of India to test these theories. We find little support for the idea that India’s legal heritage as a common law country has been influential in speeding the path of regulatory reforms and financial development. Rather, we suggest there are complementarities between (1) India’s relative success in services and software; (2) the relative strength of its financial markets for outside equity, as opposed to outside debt; and (3) the relative success of stock market regulation, as opposed to reforms of creditor rights. We conclude that political economy explanations have more traction in explaining the case of India than do theories based on “legal origins.”

A growing literature emphasizes the importance of legal institutions for economic development. Within this tradi�on, an influential claim is that a country’s “legal origin” significantly affects the evolution of its legal rules, in particular as they relate to finance. An alternative claim asserts that the development of legal rules is more closely influenced by national political choices and interest group lobbying. This article uses the case oflndia, one of the world’s most significant developing economies, as a case study for exploring the applicability of these theories.

The Indian economy, subject to central planning from independence in 1947, liberalized dramatically in 1991. Since then, there have been rapid and far-reaching law reforms intended to ensure that legal institutions keep pace with the needs of the growing economy. To shed light on the mechanisms by which these legal changes were brought about, and their relationship with the needs of investors, we conducted interviews with a range of Indian lawyers, policy makers, regulators, judges, businesspeople, and investors. We focused our enquiries on changes to the legal protection of outside investors: that is, shareholders and creditors. These yielded interesting findings as regards both the modalities of legal change and its relationship with development.

Tags: Finance, law, Politics

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Egypt accepted the Council’s recommendation that “emergency powers should not be abused or used against journalists and bloggers in their exercise of their right to freedom of expression,” but rejected as “factually inaccurate” the recommendation to “release bloggers and activists currently detained under the Emergency Law and cease its arrests and detention of political activists.”

“Egypt keeps pointing to the prevalence of websites and newspapers in Egypt as evidence of its respect for free speech,” Whitson said, “But its continued imprisonment of writers undermines this claim.”

letter to Human Rights Watch, the Foreign Affairs Ministry said that: “preventative measures were taken to protect Hany Nazeer Aziz’s life in light of the anger and the strong uprising of the Muslims in Abu Tesht in Qena caused by his blog, which included pictures insulting to sacred Islamic symbols in addition to a novel that includes insults to Islam and the Prophet which Nazeer published.”

“The right way to protect Nazeer is not by imprisoning him, but by prosecuting those threatening his security,” Whitson said. “The government does nothing to foster an atmosphere of tolerance and respect for the views of others when it jails those who have controversial views.”

Under the emergency law, the interior minister may order a person’s detention without charge for 45 days, and indefinitely renew the order. After 30 days, a detainee can appeal before the state security court. The court can confirm the detention or order the person’s release. The Interior Ministry may appeal a release order, but the court makes a final decision.

The Egyptian government repeatedly has cited the fact that emergency law detention orders are subject to judicial review as evidence that detainees have legal protections. Yet although the Emergency State Security High Court has ordered Hany Nazeer’s release five times, on appeals filed through defense lawyers from the Arab Network for Human Rights Information, most recently on March 6, security officials continue to detain him. The court’s April 3 order followed an Interior Ministry appeal of the March 6 decision.

A researcher from the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights told Human Rights Watch that after this decision, security officials moved Nazeer for a few days to a police station in Qena. But the Interior Ministry issued a new detention order and moved Nazeer back to Borg El Arab prison, where he remains.

“Security officials’ disregard for court decisions shows that they operate outside the law and basically do whatever they want,” said Whitson. “The government should immediately charge or release all of the thousands of administrative detainees who remain held under the emergency law.”

As party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Egypt is obliged under article 9 to ensure that there is no arbitrary deprivation of liberty and to provide an effective remedy for violations. Under article 19, it is bound to protect freedom of expression. Limited derogations from these articles are allowed in a state of emergency, but the state of emergency in Egypt does not meet the applicable criteria under international law.

In a report on his 2009 visit to Egypt, Martin Scheinin, UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, expressed concern about the abuse of the emergency law and said that a state of emergency must be a temporary tool. He said that the emergency law that has been “almost continuously in force for more than 50 years in Egypt is not a state of exceptionality; it has become the norm, which must never be the purpose of a state of emergency.” He recommended that Egypt “abolish any legal provisions allowing for administrative detention and take effective measures to release or bring to trial all detainees currently subjected to that regime.”

Since 2005, the Egyptian government has promised to end the state of emergency and repeal the emergency law, yet it now appears clear that the government will once more renew the state of emergency, which will expire in May. On February 10, the Egyptian daily Al Shorouk quoted Mufid Shehab, minister for legislative affairs, as saying, “Any one of us would love Egypt to function under the penal code, but all indications urge us to extend the state of emergency given the sectarian tensions and violence that surround us on all sides in Iraq, Sudan, Lebanon, and Palestine.” Thousands of prisoners are detained without charge under the emergency law, many for over a decade. In April, security forces beat up and arrested a group of young demonstrators calling for an end to the state of emergency.

“The unfettered powers granted to the government to detain anyone they want, at any time, for just about any reason makes real political reform in Egypt impossible,” Whitson said. “If the government renews this law once again in May, it will only perpetuate its abusive, unchecked rule over the people of Egypt.”

Tags: Emergency Law

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