Welcome to the Open Forum on Global Standardization as Global Politics

Globalization presents governments and policy makers world-wide with a range of challenges, such as climate change, congestion, financial turmoil, security threats, tax evasion, migration, water and energy shortages etc. As conventional politics and Nation States prove to be insufficient and sometimes ineffective and powerless in this situation, demand for political intervention through quasi-regulatory international standardization is increasing.

Meanwhile, voluntary industry-standards facilitate cross-border trade, investment and communication. Particularly in ICT, technologies as well as products are global and industry-driven standardization contribute to market integration and international specialization.

This tension between global politics and global markets in the field of standardization is the main topic of this Open Forum by Talkstandards.com.

The forum is devoted to a discussion about the role of global standardization in the global economy. In particular:

What are the opportunities and threats of greater political involvement in global standardization, particularly in the fields of energy, communications and the Internet?

Under what scenarios will increased political involvement result in strategically adapted national standards, that foster unilateral interests, as opposed to globally coordinated standards, that serve common interests?

Does standardization realistically offer political means to solve important global issues, such as global warming, energy shortages, consumer protection, political accountability etc?

Please join the discussion!

Mattias Ganslandt, Editor

Banner image by Sze Ning