Worldwide we see the rise of new non-state, ‘multi-stakeholder’ organizations setting standardsfor socially and environmentally responsible practices. A multi-stakeholder organization builds on the idea of assembling actors from diverse societal spheres into one rule-setting process, thereby combining their resources, competences, and experiences. These processes also allow competing interests to negotiate and deliberate about their different concerns in globalpolitical and ethical matters. This paper analyzes multi-stakeholder dynamics within three global standard setters: the Forest Stewardship Council, the Marine Stewardship Council, andthe work of the International Organization for Standardization on social responsibility (ISO26000). Although the multi-stakeholder organizational form facilitates the establishment oftransnational non-state authority, this very structure could also result in fragility. The key aim of this paper is to elaborate on this fragility with specific focus on how participatoryaspects within a multi-stakeholder context both contribute to and destabilize the authority of the multi-stakeholder organization. The paper contributes theoretically to current discussionsabout transnational governance in the making, and more specifically it adds nuance to thediscussion about the fragility of non-state authority as well as a critical perspective to the literature on multi-stakeholder arrangements.