Regulating the global fisheries: The World Wildlife Fund, Unilever, and the Marine Stewardship Council

This analysis uses an analytical framework grounded in political economy perspectives of the globalization of the agro-food sector combined with a case study approach focusing on the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) to inform discussions regarding the characteristics of societal regulation in the post-Fordist era. More specifically, this analysis uses the case of the emergence of the MSC to investigate propositions regarding the existence of, and location of, nascent forms of a transnational State. The MSC proposes to regulate the certification of sustainable fisheries at the global level through an eco-labeling program. The MSC was created in 1996 by the transnational environmental organization the World Wildlife Fund and the transnational corporation Unilever. The emergence of the MSC has generated heated discussion in fisheries management circles that is in general divided along North/South lines. This analysis indicates that the case of the MSC provides valuable insights into the possible characteristics of supranational regulatory mechanisms that might emulate the role of the nation-State in the post-Fordist era. © 2000 Kluwer Academic Publishers.