For a special issue of the journal "Regulation and Governance" on the regulation of global supply chains, Lena Partzsch wrote an article together with Michael Mason and Teresa Kramarz entitled "The devil is in the detail: The need for a decolonizing turn and better environmental accountability in global supply chain regulations". It represents a comprehensive synthesis of the contributions to the special issue. The three authors conclude that the devil is in the details. A "decolonizing turn" is fundamentally necessary. The contributions show the crucial role of civil society groups from the global North, while similar groups from the global South are largely absent from the definition of due diligence obligations for companies in global supply chains. The contributions to the Special Issue also point to institutional complementarities of political-economic contexts and legal modalities. Furthermore, it becomes clear that the environment is not effectively protected by the regulations that were now adopted. A decolonializing turn, which the three authors suggest, would foreground questions of agency in the producing states , to provide a fuller epistemological grasp of global supply chain relations with negative human rights and environmental impacts.

Mason, M., Partzsch, L., Kramarz, T. 2023. The devil is in the detail: The need for a decolonizing turn and better environmental accountability in global supply chain regulations, Regulation & Governance, DOI: 10.1111/rego.12539.