Global Governance Architecture Research Articles

The European Union's Global Health Actorness: A Research Agenda for a New Age of Pandemics

AbstractWhilst the European Union's (EU's) response to health emergencies has historically been subpar, some suggest that it emerged from COVID‐19 as a stronger global health actor. This prompts two interrelated questions: how have International Relations scholars conceptualised and assessed EU ‘actorness’ in the all‐too‐often neglected field of global health, and what adjustments are required in anticipation of a potential new age of pandemics? This article revisits the longstanding notion of ‘actorness’ and dissects the few studies that apply it systematically to analyse the EU's role in global health. After identifying some key shortcomings in the literature, the article formulates a research agenda suitable for the complex and high‐stakes nature of contemporary global health endeavours. By further adapting the concept of ‘actorness’ to a multifaceted EU external action as well as to an increasingly intricate global governance architecture, this research agenda contributes to the broader scholarship on the EU's international outreach.

Assessment of the influence of institutions and globalization on environmental pollution for open and closed economies

AbstractAs the environmental sustainability effectiveness of various political systems is taken into consideration, it is doubtful as to whether the presumption of the overall efficiency of democracy can be sustained in global governance architecture. The effectiveness of autocracies and democracies (i.e., governance indicators are compared in the present study) with reference to strengths and weaknesses in environmental objectives. This analysis explores the effect of autocracy, democracy, as well as the trend of globalization on CO2 emissions for open and closed economies from 1990 to 2020. Crucial indicators such as economic growth, renewable energy and non-renewable energy are controlled for while examining the roles of economic expansion on the disaggregated energy consumption portfolios for both open and closed economies. The empirical analysis revealed some insightful results. First, for the open economies, with the exception of non-renewable energy which shows a positive significant impact on emissions, all variables show a negative effect on emissions. Furthermore, the closed economies result indicate that, apart from renewable energy which has a negative relationship with emissions, all the variables including the interaction terms have a positive relation with emissions. However, an inverted U-shaped environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis was validated for both economies.

Governance for planetary health equity—the Planetary Health Equity Hothouse project

BackgroundPlanetary health equity (PHE) is defined here as equitable good health in a stable Earth system. PHE is arguably in crisis. Human-made climate change is damaging global populations through hotter temperatures, wildfires, and more severe and frequent storms, flooding, and landslides. A tsunami of health inequities will result from this, as pre-existing health conditions and inequities in living and working conditions ensure that socially disadvantaged groups and people in low-income and middle-income countries are disproportionately affected by climate change. Despite evidence of these massive challenges and multiple calls to action, why has there been so little effective remedial action? And more importantly, how can we overcome this failure? To answer these questions, this panel discusses new research for understanding the conditions that enable coherent governance to improve planetary health equity outcomes. MethodsThe panel draws on emerging research from the Planetary Health Equity Hothouse. With perspectives from political economy, public health, policy studies, and systems science, we present new conceptual thinking and empirics around the complexities, dynamics, and trajectories of the global consumptogenic system in the 21st century, with a focus on the intersections between climate change and social and health inequities. The research examines mechanisms via which the global political economy creates planetary health inequities; identifies policy that optimises the climate, social, and health equity outcomes of mitigation actions; and discusses how governance for planetary health equity must evolve into the future, focusing on the structural, institutional, and ideational factors that advance action to promote PHE outcomes. FindingsThe global consumptogenic system of institutions, actors, norms, policies, and commercial activities that incentivise excessive production and consumption of fossil fuel-reliant goods and services with negative environmental, social, and health effects lies at the heart of the PHE crisis. Using network analysis, we show that the global PHE governance architecture is highly centralised and dominated by economic governance organisations. We also discuss a new Planetary Health Equity Impact Assessment tool to assess the PHE effects of existing policy and business practices within the consumptogenic system. An initial assessment of the mitigation sections of national governments' Nationally Determined Contribution reports to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change shows a dominance of economic language and issues. This highlights a missed opportunity for mitigation policy to be inclusive of social and health matters. Finally, we present new conceptual understandings of multilevel governance coherence and relevant strategies to advance PHE focused action. InterpretationThe major contribution from research on governance for planetary health equity lies in detailing the what, who, and how of effective governance that advances health, social equity, and the environment in an interconnected way, helping to shift institutional norms and behaviours towards principles of fairness, sustainability, and human wellbeing. Crucially, it provides strategies for socially oriented actors, including governments, civil society, and international organisations to change the consumptogenic system and advance action for PHE. FundingAustralian Research Council.

‘Global Disordering’: Practices of Reflexivity in Global Economic Governance

Abstract In this article, I offer a reinterpretation of late 20th-century ‘neo-liberal’ transformations of global economic governance. My argumentative foil is a macro-institutional interpretation of the post-1980s period in which neo-liberalism appears as programmatic institutional form and disciplinary formation. I argue that a second, and complementary, dynamic also needs to be taken into account – namely, the emergence and operationalization of a set of critical technologies for embedding practices of reflexivity within the state. I suggest, moreover, that attention to this dimension of neo-liberalization provides a new perspective on the present. I offer an interpretation of the current moment of transition as one in which a similar repertoire of neo-liberal techniques of reflexivization is, in a second iteration, being trained on the architecture of global economic governance itself.

BRICS as a Catalyst for Global Governance Transformation: Beyond Western Perceptions

Scholarship on global political economy and global peace and security governance often depicts BRICS members as emerging powers with relatively limited experience in international leadership. These depictions underscore their contested regional leadership and ambiguous institutional, political, ideological, and socio-economic capacities to influence and reshape the global governance system. However, this article challenges some of these characterizations of BRICS members as inaccurate and rooted in Western exceptionalism. Employing a qualitative secondary research approach, it aims to analyze the role of BRICS as a new model for global governance by examining key institutional and political initiatives undertaken by the bloc, as well as by each of its member states.The analysis reveals that institutional initiatives such as the New Development Bank (NDB) demonstrate the BRICS’ capacity to deploy a combination of hard and soft power tools, thereby contributing to the emergence of multipolarity in the global governance architecture. These initiatives have exposed the world's developing regions to new experiences, resources, and understandings of the priorities of emerging powers. Furthermore, political responses to crises, such as turmoil in Zimbabwe, Libya, and Mali, as well as nuclear issues in Iran, where BRICS members have assumed mediatory, supportive, or leading roles, have sparked renewed interest in understanding BRICS as an alternative to traditional conceptions of global peace and security governance. Significantly, BRICS’ soft power diplomacy plays a pivotal role in projecting the bloc as an advocate of alternative global governance architecture and in dispelling negative perceptions. This objective is achieved through the BRICS’ transformative agenda, which offers alternative pathways for attaining international public goods in developing regions with shared historical and ideological affinities.

Migration Governance in South Africa

The emerging global migration governance architecture is very different from the formal multilateralism of the post-1945 era that influenced the evolution of transboundary issues of trade, the environment, and finance. States have recognised that they cannot address the challenge of migration without international cooperation. Consequently, multiple institutions co-exist across the bilateral, regional, inter-regional, and multilateral levels, through both formal and informal structures. Proponents of a 'management' approach to global migration governance, primarily countries in the Global North, have preferred to keep intergovernmental discussions regarding migration outside of the United Nations (UN) in various state-led fora in different regional and global settings. Equally, countries in the Global South, along with normative organizations such as ILO, OHCHR, and IOM, have sought to further a rights-based approach to the governance of migration within the UN. IOM's recommendation that has been faulted by academia for being biased: International migration in countries in the Global South, including South Africa, is that migration management frameworks should be anchored in sound policies and underpinned by enabling legal frameworks and implementation strategies that have the support of all stakeholders and devoid of these symptoms of a lack of coordination, coherence and cooperation. The academic critique fails to appreciate that public administration has many lenses that are not in public domains. This paper is explanatory research that is built on exploratory and descriptive research types. It goes further to determine causes and reasons, extend the theory or principles, and provide evidence to support or refute explanations or predictions. The research philosophy of this paper is pragmatism underpinned by the nature of reality, the nature of knowledge of migration governance and the role of values of the researcher. It reviewed relevant literature to the paper, applicable policies, laws, discourses, and practices following a qualitative method with reflexive and critical comparison approach combining broad, multidisciplinary literature review; evaluating of promotion, application, and treaty review of international standards; the direct participation in policy processes in two Reginal Economic Communities in Africa: EAC and IGAD. The relevant literature reviewed are publications on migration, migration management, migration governance, migration development, border management, national security, human rights, international relations, social protection, international labour and skills mobility, development, and related themes. This paper adopted the model of migration that draws upon recent developments in migration theory: the Model Mechanisms that Produce Migration. MMPM does away with the notion of root causes; the notion of 'root causes' originated in the European policy debates about conflict-driven displacement. The attempts to tackle root causes centred on humanitarian action to prevent violence, end human rights abuses, and facilitate peace-building. This flawed preventative logic was transferred to economically motivated migration with the assumption that migration can be stemmed by alleviating poverty and creating jobs. The knowledge growth about the mixed nature of migration flows and migration motivations has been recognized by governments and international agencies and is broadly applicable across different categories of migrants, including refugees. The Model is built around three steps. Migration governance in South Africa remains a complex and challenging issue, requiring a comprehensive, coordinated, and integrated approach from the government and other stakeholders described as a whole-of-society and government approach and partnership. Adequate State funding and stakeholders' participation in the implementation of the South Africa White Paper on International Migration has the potential to address many of the challenges associated with migration governance in the country and the SADC region effectively and sustainably.

Regulatory “Reliance” in Global Trade Governance

AbstractOne of the most significant recent trends in global trade governance has been the increasing use of regulatory “reliance” arrangements as a significant element of trade alliances. Against this backdrop, an important set of questions are raised about how existing institutions of global trade governance – especially the World Trade Organization and international regulatory standards organisations – should respond. To what extent, and how, should such institutions facilitate reliance arrangements? And what role can they usefully play in overseeing and guiding their use? This paper begins to answer these questions through a focused case study of regulatory reliance in the agrifood sector. Four challenges are identified regarding the implementation of such arrangements: the high costs of establishment and maintenance; the lack of agreed and reliable assessment methodologies; the potential for arbitrary discrimination between trade partners; and the difficulties of dealing with regulatory change over time. In light of these challenges, the paper assesses the work of existing international organisations in governing reliance arrangements in the agrifood sector. The paper concludes with a number of preliminary suggestions as to how this architecture of global governance might be supplemented or harnessed to address some of the challenges posed by reliance arrangements.

다자간환경협정상의 역량강화 및 기술이전에 관한 연구

Environmental problems of a global nature, such as climate change, are urgent challenges that pose a threat not only to developing countries but also to developed countries. Therefore, in order to effectively implement Multilateral Environmental Agreements(MEAs), developed countries must take the lead and also support developing countries. Supporting developing countries that are having difficulty implementing the agreement is an essential elements as it determines the success or failure of the treaty.
 In order to effectively implement MEAs, it is necessary to establish a system to support developing countries to fulfill the environmental obligations they have accepted through technical and financial support. In particular, the international community needs to provide support to countries (mainly developing countries) that agree to the conclusion of treaties to solve specific environmental problems but do not have or lack the capacity to solve them.
 There are a number of means to support effective implementation of MEAs. Main means include financial support, technology transfer, and capacity building activities for developing countries. Looking at recent trends, provisions related to strengthening the implementation capacity of developing countries through technology transfer and financial support are gaining an important place in MEAs. Without appropriate capacity building and technology transfer, it is difficult to effectively achieve the main objectives of the relevant international environmental agreement. From this perspective, capacity building and technology transfer are essential elements for effective implementation of international environmental agreements.
 In the 2015 Paris Agreement, a treaty structure that stipulated technology transfer and capacity building in stand-alone provision(article) emerged, and in the BBNJ Agreement concluded in 2023, content related to capacity building and technology transfer was grouped into a separate chapter(Part). It has an impressive treaty structure, stipulating a total of seven articles. Capacity building and technology transfer form part of the global environmental governance architecture established by the relevant MEAs.
 In this article, I analyze the relevant provisions of major MEAs, focusing on capacity building through technology transfer for effective implementation of MEAs. First, we analyze regulations related to capacity building and technology transfer, focusing on the Convention on Biological Diversity and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which deal with biodiversity and climate change, which are the most important issues in the international environmental field in the 21st century. Next, I examine the structure and content of the capacity building and technology transfer provisions of the BBNJ Agreement, which was recently adopted in 2023, as the treaty with the most impressive capacity building and technology transfer provisions. The structure and content of the capacity-building and technology transfer provisions of the BBNJ Agreement, which can be evaluated as a model for desirable capacity-building and technology transfer-related regulations in the future, will also have a significant impact on the UN Plastic Treaty, which is expected to be concluded as a new international environmental agreement.

Is а Multipolar World Possible аfter February 24 аnd is There a Place for the EU in It?

The present article focuses on the question is a multipolar world possible after 24 February 2022 and what is the place of the EU in this world. The system of international relations established after the Second World War is undergoing its most serious revision with the beginning of Russia’s military actions against Ukraine. The declarative political requests of Russia, China and the countries around them after 24 February 2022 were transformed into real actions, including military ones, which show the ambition and capabilities of these countries to cause discussion about and effect changes in the existing system of international relations. The EU faces serious challenge – will it be able to assert its role as a political pole in a multipolar world. This role implies that the EU consolidates, reforms and extends the scope of the multilateral approach through which it operates to new areas, so that it can help Europeans realize their interests on the global stage and contribute to a more stable multipolar order, maintaining its openness by adherence to cooperation and accepted rules. Therefore, the EU must become a political union with common economic visions and procedures, which will determine whether the EU is part of the forming poles or will have an independent weight. At the same time, the question arises of whether we are ready for a multipolar currency world. The analysis leads to the following conclusions: 1) a multipolar world is possible; 2) the challenge is that the process of forming multipolarity in international relations does not lead to antagonism and fragmentation, but to strengthening the processes of unification and integration; 3) the world is changing rapidly and humanity is entering a new era of deep transformation, which also includes the presence of multipolarity, economic globalization, development of information society, cultural diversity, transformation of the architecture of global governance and world order, as well as increasing interconnectedness and interdependence between countries.

Maintaining Warp Speed: Policy Requirements for a Just-in-Time, Capability-Based, Scalable Medical Countermeasure Research and Development Enterprise.

Maintaining Warp Speed: Policy Requirements for a Just-in-Time, Capability-Based, Scalable Medical Countermeasure Research and Development Enterprise.

Institutional outcome at the subnational level – Climate commitment as a new measurement

This paper presents the concept of climate commitment for measuring institutional effectiveness in global climate governance at the subnational level. The research scope is limited to a top-down perspective and the outcome dimension of institutional effectiveness. It considers the multi-level governance theoretical approach to assess subnational governments' behavior in global climate governance and defines subnational governments as the level between the national government and cities/municipalities. Climate commitment stands on two dimensions: governance processes and greenhouse gas emissions trajectory. The principal component analysis statistical method examines the climate commitment variables' behavior and the results for Brazilian subnational units (26 states and the federal district). The research's contribution offers an alternative approach to subnational actors' role in global climate governance architecture and an alternative model for policy design.

Ad hoc coalitions in global governance: short-notice, task- and time-specific cooperation

Abstract Ad hoc coalitions (AHCs) are an indispensable but scantly conceptualized part of global governance. In recent years, several typologies and classifications of global governance arrangements have been provided, mostly differentiating them based on their organizational design features of degree of formality and membership composition. These do not capture AHCs and the role they play in global governance. In this article, we not only provide a conceptualization of AHCs, but also propose ways in which AHCs fit within the broader global governance architecture. We argue that what sets AHCs apart is not so much their (in)formality or membership, but rather their short-notice creation, their task-specific purpose and their temporarily circumscribed existence. We therefore define AHCs as autonomous arrangements with a task-specific mandate established at short notice for a limited time frame. We then develop a research agenda on the nature and future of AHCs, including their short- and long-term relationship with other multilateral arrangements in the global governance architecture. This is important, as we do yet not know how AHCs complement, compete and impact on international organizations and international crisis response.

The Resilience of the Multirelational Structure of Geopolitical Treaties is Critically Linked to Past Colonial World Order and Offshore Fiscal Havens

The governance of the political and economic world order builds on a complex architecture of international treaties at various geographical scales. In a historical phase of high institutional turbulence, assessing the stability of such architecture with respect to the unilateral defection of single countries and the breakdown of single treaties is important. We carry out this analysis on the whole global architecture and find that the countries with the highest disruption potential are mostly medium-small and micro countries. Political stability is highly dependent on many former colonial overseas territories that are today part of the global network of fiscal havens, as well as on emerging economies, mostly from South-East Asia. Economic stability depends on medium-sized European and African countries. Single global treaties have surprisingly less disruptive potential, with the major exception of the WTO. Our results suggest that the potential fragility of the world order seems to be more directly related to global inequality and fiscal injustice than commonly believed and that the legacy of the colonial world order is still strong in the current international relations scenario. In particular, vested interests related to tax avoidance seem to have a structural role in the political architecture of global governance.

The Architecture of Global Governance: Paths of Approach

International organisations and global governance studies typically refer to “architecture” as the structures of decision-making, power distribution, or financial flows. This position paper challenges this conventional understanding by delving into its primary meaning—the built environment. It charts ways in which architectural design, historiography, and criticism become relevant for the study of international organisations and, inversely, how multilateral diplomacy (e.g. “informal” networks such as the G20) questions existing architectural typologies and narratives. The study focuses on the meanings and expectations embedded in the spaces utilised by global governance actors. By evaluating the architectural discipline’s ability to conceptualise these spaces beyond their symbolic dimension, we emphasise the material characteristics and cultural connotations that shape negotiations, agreements, and treaties. Understanding their agency highlights the influential but often overlooked spatial dimension within international diplomacy and unveils how the built environment contributes to the imagination and materialisation of international governing.

Humanitarian Aid as Global Governance: The Architecture of the Red Cross’s Relief Operations after the 1976 Guatemala Earthquake

This paper analyses the disaster relief operation that was set in motion immediately after the 1976 Guatemala earthquake through the activities of the Guatemalan Red Cross Society. Already in the emergency phase, “Guatecruz” built field offices in the disaster region to manage both the relief efforts as well as to set up forty-three tent cities. By taking a seat in the disaster zone, as opposed to coordinating from a distant headquarters, Guatecruz became the main governing body in a large network of different national and international state and non-state actors. This paper sets out to elucidate the non-governmental logic behind the making, financing, building, and operation of Guatecruz’s field offices and introduce it as an early example of contracting out services that were previously controlled by the government to non-governmental organisations. Untangling a large-scale humanitarian crisis from these field offices, this paper introduces a specific institutional history that uses decentralisation as a method to plan, develop, and build an “architecture of global governance.”

Global Financial Governance and Progressive Feminist Agendas

Feminists and other progressives have long argued that global macroeconomic governance is deeply deficient. The deficiencies have been revealed and amplified by the COVID-19 crisis. The need to radically reconstruct the global economic governance architecture is therefore pressing. Albert Hirschman’s conception of “possibilism” is particularly relevant for navigating these challenges. In the spirit of Hirschmanian possibilism, I make a case for what I refer to as “enabling global financial governance.” I use this term to refer to reforms of global financial governance that could provide a supporting environment for feminist and other progressive plans for sustainability and social justice. I advance the provocative claim that feminists and other social justice advocates should embrace what I term “permissive multilateralisms” rather than “harmonized multilateralism.” I also highlight a number of directions for global financial governance reform that could provide policy space for progressive initiatives, including those advanced by feminists. I offer this paper as a small way of honoring my friend, Eugenia Correa, whose intellectual legacy and commitment to engaged scholarship has influenced me profoundly.

Exploring Global Climate Policy Futures and Their Representation in Integrated Assessment Models

The Paris Agreement, adopted in 2015, paved the way for a new hybrid global climate governance architecture with both bottom-up and top-down elements. While governments can choose individual climate goals and actions, a global stocktake and a ratcheting-up mechanism have been put in place with the overall aim to ensure that collective efforts will prevent increasing adverse impacts of climate change. Integrated assessment models show that current combined climate commitments and policies of national governments fall short of keeping global warming to 1.5 °C or 2 °C above preindustrial levels. Although major greenhouse gas emitters, such as China, the European Union, India, the United States under the Biden administration, and several other countries, have made new pledges to take more ambitious climate action, it is highly uncertain where global climate policy is heading. Scenarios in line with long-term temperature targets typically assume a simplistic and hardly realistic level of harmonization of climate policies across countries. Against this backdrop, this article develops four archetypes for the further evolution of the global climate governance architecture and matches them with existing sets of scenarios developed by integrated assessment models. By these means, the article identifies knowledge gaps in the current scenario literature and discusses possible research avenues to explore the pre-conditions for successful coordination of national policies towards achieving the long-term target stipulated in the Paris Agreement.

Shaping AI’s Future? China in Global AI Governance

ABSTRACT With the growing challenges brought by Artificial Intelligence (AI)’s rapid development, multiple global AI governance initiatives have been developed to set up AI norms and standards. With China’s open ambition to be an AI superpower in 2030, China is keen to play a leadership role in nascent global AI governance regimes. This article argues that China’s search for AI leadership is driven by not only domestic regulatory needs but also the desire to gain norm and agenda setting power. China’s leadership ambition in global AI governance lies in the wider context of its aspiration to shift from a norm-taker towards a norm-shaper, if not maker. Despite considerable efforts taken so far, however, this article suggests that China is facing enormous challenges to realize its leadership ambition. The current geopolitical landscapes have allowed China limited room in nascent global AI governance regimes to demonstrate its leadership credentials. It remains to be seen how China’s role may evolve with the development of global AI governance architecture.

Choral intervention: reimagining international law pedagogy in Africa through music

ABSTRACT The idea of establishing a link between music and international law is not a topic that typically excites scholars and practitioners. In its Eurocentric/colonial or critical/decolonial posture, scholarly engagement with international law is often devoted to the so-called “hard” issues such as global security, global warming, poverty, reforms of international institutions, global governance architecture, etc. As such, the notion that music, in its expressive and aesthetic manifestations, can be deployed in the better understanding of and finding solutions to the so-called “hard issues” of international law remains a peripheral subject. At the heart of this article is the question of how music could serve as an effective instrumental tool for rethinking the pedagogical process of international law in Africa. The article argues that socially conscious songs provide a beneficial lens and gateway to the popular understanding of the problematics of international law. Such knowledge further engenders the possibility of repurposing the applicative dimensions of international law on the continent.

Asianism – The Indian Sub-Text

Going by the economic growth patterns of China, India, Japan, South Korea and ASEAN countries with corresponding decline in the Western economic heft, it was often claimed that the 21st century will be the Asian Century. This might be in doubt due to the pandemic and geopolitical contestation between China and the US, where new faultlines are being drawn. Moreover, India and China being in a potential conflict zone, the dream of the Asian Century might have receded even further. But Asianism, given its intrinsic strength, has gone through its own evolution over the centuries, as the major Asian civilizations and cultures have interacted often seamlessly and occasionally competed with one another. Assimilation has often been the result. Ancient is intrinsic to the Asian thought, philosophy, and existence. Harmony with nature and a share-and-care attitude have been the hallmarks of the quest for eternal peace and co-existence. Yet, political Asianism has occasionally witnessed conflicts and wars in the name of supremacy and superiority which was hardly the real essence of the Asiatic value systems. The battle between the West and East accentuated them through the 19th and 20th centuries and the First and Second World Wars. The Western system moved forward, as Japan was defeated but eventually became part of the Western alliance system. India became independent and avoided the Cold War with the global governance architecture by virtue of her ancient mystical heritage and knowledge, new-found democratic credentials, a moral and principled stance reflected through her non-aligned approaches and pragmatic emphasis on peace and development for one-sixth of humanity, thereby leading the newly-independent developing countries from Asia to Africa, from the clutches of colonialism. This has provided India with an authoritative international voice of reason. And this is what will combine her software, powered by the civilizational heritage and universality of her cultural ethos, to enhance and extend her soft power appeal which is the subtext of her very existence.