Norm Setting and Transparency and Confidence-Building in Space Governance

Abstract

Governance of the use of space, both at the national and the international level, is complicated. Because most countries in the world have been reticent over the last thirty years to negotiate new legally binding commitments in space, ongoing multilateral work on space governance has concentrated primarily on voluntary measures. This chapter reviews and compares the two most salient of these initiatives: the normative recommendations of the UN Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) and the Guidelines for the Long-Term Sustainability of Outer Space Activities agreed by the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space Working Group. While the GGE was “top-down” focused on transparency and confidence-building to avoid conflict among States, the LTS Working Group was a “bottom-up” approach for safe and sustainable practices with regard to the use of space. The conclusion looks at how States can best implement the recommendations.