This Workshop explores how global governance institutions (particularly IOs) respond to disruption and disruptors in world politics. Transnational crises such as climate change, financial shocks, and armed conflict strain the authority, legitimacy, and adaptability of international institutions. At the same time, domestic political shifts, particularly the rise of authoritarian and populist regimes, further stress multilateral cooperation. This Workshop seeks to unify these themes under the broader concept of disruption, which captures the diverse sources of instability, both international and domestic, that challenge global governance arrangements. It also considers the opportunities crises may create for institutional innovation and reform.
The need for a Workshop on disruption in global governance arises from the increasing frequency and intensity of transnational crises that strain global governance institutions. Crises such as climate change, financial instability, and armed conflict expose the limits of IOs’ authority, legitimacy, and adaptability. At the same time, domestic political transformations—including the rise of authoritarian and populist regimes—pose new barriers to multilateral cooperation. Existing scholarship has long examined the design and performance of IOs. However, recent disruptions demand fresh analytical frameworks that connect global and domestic sources of instability. Existing research on crisis management and regime complexity highlights how IOs adapt under pressure, but it often treats disruptions as episodic rather than systemic. Similarly, studies of IO authority and legitimacy have rarely engaged with the compounding effects of multiple, simultaneous crises.
Recent publications on both the resilience of global institutions and the decline of the liberal international order point to the risks of fragmentation, the possibility of decline, but also to opportunities for reform. By uniting these strands, this Workshop will foster dialogue across theoretical, methodological, and disciplinary divides. It is thus timely and necessary. The Workshop will bring together scholars to interrogate how disruption and disruptors are reshaping global governance, how IOs respond to it, and what innovations emerge in the process. In doing so, it will advance an integrated understanding of crises not only as threats but also as catalysts of institutional change, thus contributing to and extending existing research on global governance in hard times.
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1: How do IOs maintain authority and legitimacy under conditions of disruption and in the face of disruptors?
2: What strategies and mechanisms enable IOs to adapt to transnational crises?
3: How do domestic political shifts affect multilateral cooperation and global governance arrangements?
4: In what ways does regime complexity shape crisis response and the resilience of global governance?
5: Under what conditions do disruptions and disruptors serve as catalysts for institutional innovation and reform?
1: The authority and legitimacy of IOs under crisis conditions
2: Comparative responses of IOs to such crises as climate change, financial shocks, or armed conflict
3: The impact of such disruptors as authoritarian and populist regimes on multilateral cooperation
4: Interactions between formal and informal international organizations in times of disruption
5: Regime complexity as challenges or resources in crisis governance
6: Institutional innovation and reform triggered by domestic and international disruptors
7: Historical and comparative perspectives on global governance during periods of disruption
8: Methodological approaches to studying disruption in global governance
