Global Governance Challenges Research Articles

'Monkeypox, where is your rage?': The racialization, sexualization, and securitization of global health

With the purposes of identifying the underlying challenges of global and public health governance of outbreaks, this paper explores three key themes that emerged in response to the 2022 mpox epidemic: the belated change of disease nomenclature from monkeypox to mpox; the classification of mpox as a sexually transmitted infection (STI); and the unpreparedness of health agencies to vaccinate impacted populations. The paper makes the case that, because of the global and public health tensions arising from racialized nomenclatures, sexualized classifications, biosecuritized borders, and monopolized vaccines, national and international agencies failed in providing an adequate and comprehensive response to the latest mpox pandemic, which contributed further to the pathologization of already vulnerable and stigmatized population groups.

Economic sanctions and trade dynamics: Analyzing U.S. unilateral and EU autonomous economic sanctions (1950–2019)

This study investigates the role of economic sanctions within contemporary national security strategies, focusing on their impact, motivations, and implications for sender states. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, the research combines qualitative and quantitative methodologies to comprehensively analyze unilateral and autonomous economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. and the EC/EU between 1950 and 2019. The comparative and descriptive analysis examines 97 sanctions episodes, including 60 unilateral U.S. sanctions and an original dataset of 37 EC/EU autonomous economic sanctions episodes. The findings reveal that economic sanctions imposed by both entities generally yield positive economic outcomes for sender states. Endogenous motivations such as economic security concerns, geopolitical interests, and domestic political considerations emerge as significant drivers behind the deployment of sanctions. Economic sanctions are perceived as a strategic tool serving political objectives while enhancing economic security of sender states. Tangible benefits, including strengthened negotiating positions and domestic support, underscore the instrumental role of sanctions in advancing sender states’ interests globally. In summary, this research contributes valuable­ insights into the complex dynamics of economic sanctions and their implications for sender states. The study offers pertinent guidance for policymakers­, scholars, and practitioners navigating global security and economic governance challenges by examining economic sanctions’ motivations, impacts, and implications within contempo­rary national security strategies.

Competing Visions for US Grand Strategy in Cyberspace

Cyberspace is a primary battleground of the twenty-first century. Yet, grand strategists have been slow to address cyber strategy. We examine the implications of four prominent American grand strategies—restraint, deep engagement, liberal internationalism, and conservative primacy—for core topics in cyber strategy. Several unique features of cyberspace, including its nonviolent effects, pervasive secrecy, and the challenges of global governance, generate counterintuitive implications. For example, advocates of restraint, usually skeptical of conventional military force, should be more comfortable wielding cyber power, generating surprising convergences with conservative primacy. Conversely, liberal internationalists place importance on legitimating the use of force, rendering them more cautious than even proponents of the "restraint" strategy. We also briefly explore two newer grand strategies—progressivism and conservative populism—in order to show how our framework applies to emerging debates. Our approach can also help analyze how grand strategies extend to other emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence.

Classical realism and the challenge of global economic governance

Abstract This paper considers the prospects for global economic governance from the perspective of classical realism. It explains why, from this perspective, the American-led liberal international order, is over—and is not coming back. Classical realism anticipates a US renunciation of the orchestration of global governance, one rooted principally in shifts in its purpose, rather than by changes to its relative capabilities. This transformation of American purpose is a consequence of its domestic politics—in particular, the rise in economic inequality, the emergence of plutocracy, and the dysfunctional political polarization stimulated by those trends—a predictable result of a tectonic shift in the culture of capitalism from one associated with the ‘compromise of embedded liberalism’ towards the exaltation of ‘shareholder value’. This yields pessimistic conclusions not only about American foreign policy, which is likely to be more short-sighted, mercurial, and transactionalist, but also regarding the prospects for global economic governance. Realism sees international cooperation as challenging to establish and maintain, given the consequences of anarchy. In the coming years, episodes of cooperation will surely emerge, but they will likely be ad-hoc, mini-lateral, and fragile. Orchestrating ambitious schemes of global economic governance is less likely when a predominant power has lost interest in such things.

On global learning: pragmatic constructivism, international practice and the challenge of global governance

On global learning: pragmatic constructivism, international practice and the challenge of global governance

Transformation of International Order and Global Governance Challenges in the Post Epidemic Era

Transformation of International Order and Global Governance Challenges in the Post Epidemic Era

Common Asset Trusts for blue commons stewardship

There are critical direct and indirect, positive and negative links between the ocean and human wellbeing at multiple scales. Many of the ecosystem services the ocean provides to humans, including fisheries, are common pool resources that are non-excludable but rival or subtractive. Others, including climate regulation, are non-rival and non-excludable pure public goods. Resources without any restriction or condition for their use, are known as open-access resources. Unrestricted access generally leads to unsustainable use. Many ocean ecosystems are open access, blue commons. They range in spatial scale from national, such as mangroves and coral reefs, to the open seas within Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs), to Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ). There are also many species that migrate between national jurisdictions or between national and global blue commons. The sustainable stewardship of these blue commons is one of the most important current global governance challenges. We describe in detail how to create a Common Asset Trust (CAT) for blue commons and how such a system would operate. Finally, we propose CATs to manage blue commons at different spatial scales, including coastal reefs, EEZs, and ABNJ.

A Community of Shared Future for Mankind and the Logic of Chinas Global Governance in the Post-COVID-19 Era

The concept of a community with a shared future has emerged as a guiding principle in global governance, emphasizing humanitys interconnectedness and shared interests. In the post-pandemic era, global governance faces unprecedented challenges and changes, impacting health security, economic recovery, and social stability. Amidst these changes, Chinas approach to international management has evolved, presenting innovative solutions and injecting new dynamics into the global landscape. This paper explores the relationship between a community with a shared future and Chinas global governance logic in the post-pandemic era. It examines the challenges of global governance in this new context and delves into Chinas specific practices within the framework of a community with a shared future. The study reviews Chinas efforts in global health governance, economic cooperation, development assistance, climate change, and sustainable development. Through qualitative and quantitative research methods, this study analyzes Chinas role in shaping the global landscape and the impact of a community with a shared future on international relations. The research draws from primary data collected through official documents, international agreements, and statements from relevant stakeholders. The findings reveal that Chinas emphasis on a community with a shared future has fostered increased cooperation and collaboration in various global governance areas. Chinas contributions to global health initiatives, economic partnerships, and sustainable development demonstrate its commitment to multilateralism and inclusive approaches to addressing global challenges.

Soft governance against superbugs: How effective is the international regime on antimicrobial resistance?

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and the declining effectiveness of antibiotic medicines due to misuse are among the biggest threats to global health and a major challenge for global governance in this century. Since drug-resistant bacteria spread easily across borders, government policies that exacerbate or mitigate AMR affect other countries. International organizations and governments addressed the global public good of maintaining antimicrobial protection by creating a soft governance regime largely devoid of legally binding rules and enforcement mechanisms. This article presents a cross-national empirical assessment of the effectiveness of the international AMR regime combining novel data on national action plans and data on antibiotic consumption in 191 countries between 2000 and 2018. We find that the regime sets ambitious goals and achieves broad participation, substantial implementation, and meaningful change in the use of antibiotics. The involvement of the largest consumers of antibiotics has been crucial for both effectiveness and equity.

Research Status and Challenges of Global Digital Governance Based on Knowledge Graph Analysis

Digital governance is an important issue in the digital age, involving the interests of governments, enterprises, individuals, and other parties. It is a key factor in achieving modernization of national governance and has attracted widespread attention from countries around the world. In this study, a Knowledge Graph was plotted to combine the research framework of digital governance through a big data system. The basic characteristics of digital governance research, the forefront of global digital governance research, and the current governance challenges facing global digital governance are also explained in this paper. The co-occurrence clustering analysis of keywords identified that the forefront of global digital governance research mainly includes digital government governance, artificial intelligence governance, digital platform governance, digital currency governance, etc. The main problems faced by digital governance at present include monopolistic challenges, the constant evolution of the “digital divide,” data privacy protection, and artificial intelligence ethics. Solutions proposed to these problems include the deep application of digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain, the protection and enhancement of digital rights, and international cooperation and sharing, to address the governance challenges in the digital age.

Multidimensional poverty of persons with disabilities in China: An analysis of poverty reduction effect of employment services.

Disability is a global public health problem, and poverty due to illness and disability has always been a major problem and challenge for global poverty governance. In order to eradicate poverty, China has carried out a series of welfare reforms and employment interventions for people with disabilities. The purpose of this study is to examine the levels of multidimensional poverty of persons with disabilities aged 16-59 in China and the poverty reduction effect of employment services. The Alkire-Foster (AF) method is applied to measure and decompose the multidimensional poverty index (MPI) of people with disabilities in this study. In order to make the results more robust, ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and the combination of propensity score matching and difference-in-differences (PSM-DID) are used to study the effect of employment services on multidimensional poverty of the disabled. The results show that among persons with disabilities aged 16-59, about 90% are deprived in at least one dimension, and about 30% are in a state of severe multidimensional poverty until 2019. The contributions of deprivation in the dimensions of education and social participation are remarkably higher than dimensions of economy, health and insurance. In addition, employment services have a significant improvement effect on multidimensional poverty, which is reflected not only in the economic dimension, but also in the dimensions of education, insurance and social participation. People with disabilities are generally in multidimensional poverty in China, and their abilities in learning and social integration are seriously inadequate. Employment services have played a great role in improving poverty, but the improvement has been different in different dimensions and different disability categories. These findings provide important evidence for recognizing multidimensional poverty of persons with disabilities and the poverty reduction effect of employment services, which will help to formulate more reasonable public policies to eradicate poverty.

The Changing Face of International Relations: Adapting to Global Governance Challenges

The Changing Face of International Relations: Adapting to Global Governance Challenges

The Current Situation and Challenges of Global Carbon Emission Governance

Global climate change is now the most important environmental problem facing the current human need and challenge, and carbon emissions is a very important part of climate change in the, in the world today is indeed a large part of climate change caused by carbon emissions, so this article will research the current climate change under the perspective of international carbon governance issues of current situation and difficulties in major countries in the world. So as to provide countermeasures and suggestions for the next international action and better promote the sustainable development of mankind. This paper mainly uses the SPSS statistical software data correlation analysis, significance analysis and overall descriptive analysis of the research methods. Through study, carbon emissions will indeed have a huge impact on global climate change, carbon emissions from all over the world in different period by the time of the international politics, national and regional economic development, global health and safety, national historical development process and the influence of many factors, such as national policy. At the same time in the foreseeable future, the total carbon emissions of all countries and the world will show a downward trend, and all countries will make concerted efforts to tackle global climate change.

Can the Rational Design of International Institutions Solve Cooperation Problems? Insights from a Systematic Literature Review

Global governance challenges highlight the role of international institutions as problem-solving structures. Institutional design is, more than ever, relevant in this context. The academic literature on this issue is characterized by the existence of consolidated debates such as that of rationalism vs. constructivism, with a focus on making specific contributions to the rational design of international institutions. Koremenos, Lipson, and Snidal (2001) elaborated upon a series of cause-effect conjectures linking cooperation problems, considered independent variables, with institutional design features, considered dependent variables. This research aims to highlight the empirical evidence of the existing debate on this work by conducting a systematic review. Twenty-one quantitative research studies were collected through a screening and selection procedure and were subject to systematization. The findings showed asymmetric approaches to the rational design project, and agreements were the type of international institution that received the most attention from academia. Rationalism was supported by most of the body of literature. However, a broad subgroup of articles complemented this rational approach with other variables or schools of thought, such as those of constructivism and historical institutionalism. The results have relevance for the international institution design literature, as future avenues of potential research are underlined.

Hybrid and Multi-Level Adaptive Governance for Sustainable Urban Transformations in the Global South: A Secondary City Case Study

The water governance crisis has critical implications for the transformation of cities through establishment of sustainable water management practices. Adaptive governance approaches, with their potential to address global water governance challenges, are emerging in the context of the global South (GS). A key feature of adaptive governance is its enabling context, or hybridized governance approach which bridges organizational and network activities across multiple implementation scales. Transforming urban water management toward sustainable water governance practices requires flexibility and agility, and a willingness to enable new ideas, features often associated with smaller and newer cities (secondary cities) which are less constrained than the major cities. However, unpacking their potentiality and the scope of such secondary cities to lead the way in transitioning to sustainable water governance remains under-researched. To address this gap, a qualitative study in a representative GS secondary city (Mymensingh in Bangladesh) was undertaken to investigate whether national and local strategies directed toward improving governance and management capacity of the local municipality are yielding sustainable transformations. We identified a significant shift within the governance regime that influences existing power dynamics and decision-making for the delivery of urban water services. Within the traditional state-led governance structure, a hybridized governance is emerging that builds both institutional and actor capacity. However, these hybridized governance activities are strongly dependent on (international) donor investment and guidance, therefore the presence or absence of donor support will likely determine the impact of these activities in the future.

Building better global data governance

Abstract In this article, we explore the challenges of global governance and the particular challenge presented by global data governance. We discuss a range of challenges to developing meaningful global governance institutions for regulating how companies and governments around the world manage and utilize consumer data. These challenges are compounded by their global nature and the complexities of Internet-based technologies. We argue that the following gaps exist for effective global data governance: (a) there is no overarching global framework for protecting consumer data, and it is partial and incomplete; (b) there is a lack of data protection for international data transfers, as much of the regulation that is being developed is not global in scale; and (c) new areas of data collection and use compound concerns to effective data governance in a globalized digital world. Moreover, we highlight important needs in terms of both global governance and impending challenges related to current and new uses of data. Any global governance framework should recognize the need for an iterative process where communication is ongoing between the necessary stakeholders. Agreements should incorporate common goals to maximize the potential development of global data governance norms. However, goals must remain flexible to the different data environments across nation-states while maintaining a global scope to ensure data protection. In addition, any agreement should consider the emerging challenges in this area. These challenges include new methods of data collection and use, as well as protecting individuals from manipulation and undue influence based on how their data are being used, processed, and collected.

Getting Real about Taxes: Offshore Tax Sheltering and Realism's Ethic of Responsibility

AbstractThis article tackles the issue of offshore tax sheltering from the perspective of normative political realism. Tax sheltering is a pressing contemporary policy challenge, with hundreds of billions in private assets protected in offshore trusts and shell companies. Indeed, tax sheltering produces a variety of empirical dilemmas that render it a distinctive challenge for global governance. Therefore, it is crucial for normative political theorists to confront this problem. A realist approach offers three distinct advantages, elaborated in the three subsequent sections of the article. First, it relaxes the theoretical burden by starting from the real practice of tax evasion rather than from an abstract theory of equality or justice. Second, this approach recognizes that sheltering is a political harm: a threat to the very maintenance of order, not just a problem of inequality or injustice. If politicians fail at such polity maintenance, realism's ethic of responsibility provides clear political reasons why they should be held accountable. Third, realism's focus on power and its acceptance of coercion open up new strategies for addressing the problem that would not be allowed by theories with a stronger emphasis on consensus.

Earth system law: Exploring new frontiers in legal science

The Anthropocene requires of us to rethink global governance challenges and effective responses with a more holistic understanding of the earth system as a single intertwined social-ecological system. Law, in particular, will have to embrace such a holistic earth system perspective in order to deal more effectively with the Anthropocene's predicaments. While a growing number of scholars have tried to reimagine law and legal scholarship in a more holistic way, these attempts remain siloed. What is required is a shared epistemic framework to enable and enhance collaborative intradisciplinary and interdisciplinary research and co-learning that go hand in hand with thorough transdisciplinary stakeholder engagement. We argue that the nascent concept of earth system law offers such an overarching epistemic framework. This article serves as an invitation to fellow explorers from various legal fields, other disciplines, and from a wide range of stakeholders to explore new frontiers in earth system law. Our aim is to further stimulate the study of earth system law, and to encourage collaboration and co-learning in a fertile epistemic space that we share.

Arguments and architectures: Discursive and institutional structures shaping global climate engineering governance

The Anthropocene is giving rise to novel challenges for global environmental governance. The barriers and opportunities shaping the ways in which some of these complex environmental challenges become governable on the global level are of increasing academic and practical relevance. In this article, we bring neo-institutionalist and post-structuralist perspectives together in an innovative framework to analyse how both institutional and discursive structures together bound and shape the global governance opportunities which become thinkable and practicable in the face of new global environmental challenges. We apply this framework to explore how governance of climate engineering – large scale, deliberate invention into the global climate system – is being shaped by discursive and institutional structures in three international forums: The London Convention and its Protocol, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the United Nations Environment Assembly. We illustrate that the ‘degree of fit’ between discursive and institutional structures made climate engineering (un)governable in each of these forums. Furthermore, we find that the ‘type of fit’ set the discursive and institutional conditions of possibility for what type of governance emerged in each of these cases. Based on our findings, we critically discuss the implications for the future governance of climate engineering at the global level.

Coordinated Governance in the VUCA Scenario

This article deals with coordination in the study and practice of governance. Facing the new generation of complex public problems will require not only greater coordination, but also coordination that can only be built from a long-term systemic and global vision, based on governments with effective institutional capacity. In other words, internal sufficiency and external connectivity will be two key factors in the new governance. The article is structured in six sections. After the introduction, the second one analyses the concept of governance in terms of coordination. The third reviews the meaning of coordination as management of interdependencies. The fourth explores the increase in complexity and interdependence in the current scenario, through the VUCA concept (English acronym for volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity). The fifth examines some challenges of global governance and coordination through the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, it presents some conclusions.