Research on Rising Standards Powers funded by the European Research Council
The governance of global technical standard-setting is in the midst of unprecedented transformation and contestation. Long dominated by wealthy industrialized countries, international standardization organizations have been shaken by the emergence of rising standards powers, above all China. Alongside China, several other Global South countries are now breaching the high barriers to entry in this field.
The project combines qualitative and quantitative to provide empirically rich, granular analyses of rising standards powers. One work package features in-depth case studies of rising standards powers at different levels of influence in international standardization—Kenya, India and China. A second work package study the dynamics of what we call "governance rupture" in global digital standard-setting. The findings of both work packages will advance theory-building on power, politics and contestation in the global governance literature.
A practitioner lab and secondments to standardization organizations will be established in order to directly fuse academic insights with practitioners’ needs, ensuring a high degree of research impact beyond academia.
