ECPR

Install the app

Install this application on your home screen for quick and easy access when you’re on the go.

Just tap Share then “Add to Home Screen”

Virtual icon Interconnected Challenges of Global Governance Institutions

Institutions
International relations

P014

Bernhard Reinsberg

University of Glasgow

Ueli Staeger

University of Amsterdam

Monday 09:00 – Thursday 17:00 (25/03/2024 – 28/03/2024)
Multilateralism is a system of international cooperation in which states work together to address global challenges such as climate change, poverty, and pandemics. However, support for multilateralism seems to be waning, not only among governments but also among citizens. A vast literature in global governance has emphasised several drivers of this trend. Some people believe that multilateralism is essential for addressing global challenges, while others believe that it is a waste of money and that it undermines national sovereignty. This can make it difficult for governments to support multilateral organisations.
Public discourse continues to attribute the root causes of failing global governance institutions to their design and internal dysfunctions. Research has demonstrated that institutional design and bureaucratic agency matters greatly. Well-designed organisations at the time of their foundation can struggle in the face of novel crises, and through ‘agency slack’, the secretariats of IOs can attain new mandates and responsibilities despite formal design constraints. However, more recently, different strands of political science research have identified multiple external challenges. One is the fragile public support for multilateral organisations. In many countries, public opinion is divided on the issue of multilateralism. Lack of knowledge among publics makes global governance institutions vulnerable to elite-cueing strategies. In fact, governments have actively worked to undermine public support for multilateral organisations by using them as scapegoats for unpleasant policy decisions. The rise of populist governments in powerful states intensifies this challenge: populists do not shy away from sowing mistrust against global governance institutions for self-profiling purposes. Finally, emerging powers challenge the legitimacy of existing global governance institutions and related narratives of mutually beneficial cooperation. While lively debates have occurred within these fields, their interconnected nature has yet to be addressed. This Workshop will explore the relationships between different challenges to global governance institutions.
Abbot and Snidal 1998; Koremenos et al. 2001 Hardt 2014; Debre and Dijkstra 2021 Hooghe and Marks 2015; Heldt 2017 Dellmuth and Tallberg 2023 Copelovitch and Pevehouse 2019; Carnegie, Clark, and Kaya 2021; Kaya, Handlin, and Günaydin 2020 Vreeland 2003; Heinkelmann-Wild and Zangl 2020 Reinsberg and Westerwinter 2021 Rauh and Zürn 2020; Dellmuth and Tallberg 2020 Taggart 2022
1: What are the key contemporary challenges to global governance institutions?
2: How do domestic politics affect the policies and politics of global governance institutions?
3: How does domestic economic performance affect the viability of multilateral organisations?
4: How do geopolitical tensions affect the functioning of multilateral institutions?
5: How can governments overcome public opposition to multilateralism?
Title Details
Joining or leaving the party? The impact of mandatory referendums on international organizations’ membership View Paper Details
It’s all in the details: IMF Program specifics matter to the public for their support. View Paper Details
More money, more overlap? Examining the link between earmarked funding and overlap across regional international organizations View Paper Details
International Organizations and the Management of Regime Complexity: Ignorance, Confrontation, Coordination, and Cooperation View Paper Details
Selective responses to the climate crisis: Multilateral development banks and oracular power View Paper Details
World Bank, Gender (In)Equality, and Gender-Related Conditionality View Paper Details
International organizations climbing on a ladder of public involvement – comparative study of the WB and WTO View Paper Details
EU scepticism – A regional competitiveness problem? View Paper Details
Challenges of Building an Institutional Framework for Climate Financing at the Global and Regional Level: World Bank and the European Union View Paper Details
The Russia-Ukraine War and the United Nations in News Media Worldwide: Supervised Machine Learning and Generative AI-based Analysis View Paper Details
How binding and non-binding intergovernmental agreements interact? The case of outer space governance View Paper Details