Commonwealth and global development: contributions to private transnational governance?

Inter- and non-governmental anglophone Commonwealths have advocated democracy and development in both formal and informal networks, symbolised by their provision of five of the first chairs of the counterconflict diamonds Kimberley Process. Given the character of civil society-corporate as well as state-economy relations throughout the Commonwealths, they have been central to the definition and development of standard-setting norms and agencies through extensive heterogeneous coalitions such as the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. Klaus Dingwerth has recently characterised such certification, compacts, processes as 'private transnational governance'. This paper analyses the roles of the Commonwealths in advancing such 'global governance' through the Small Island Developing States and Kimberley Process as well as reflecting on parallel forms: the Ottawa Process and Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. It also asks whether such heterogeneous forms of governance are democratic and transparent.