Global Governance

Global governance studies how transnational problems are managed in the absence of world government — through institutions, networks, and norms.

Scope

It covers the governance of global commons and crises, international institutions and regimes, non-state actors, and the legitimacy of global rule-making.

Core questions

• How are global problems governed without a world government?
• Who are the actors in global governance?
• How legitimate and effective is global governance?
• How do states, IOs, and non-state actors interact?

Key concepts

• Governance without government
• Regimes
• Non-state actors
• Global commons
• Legitimacy
• Multilevel governance

Key theories

Governance without government

Rosenau and Czempiel theorized order produced without central authority through diverse actors and norms.

Institutions and cooperation

Keohane's regime theory underpins analysis of global governance.

History

Global governance emerged as a field in the 1990s (Rosenau, Keohane) to analyse the management of transnational issues by states, IOs, and non-state actors.

Debates

Effectiveness versus legitimacy

Whether global governance can be both effective and democratically legitimate.

Key figures

• James Rosenau
• Ernst-Otto Czempiel
• Robert Keohane

Seminal works

• rosenau-czempiel-1992
• keohane-1984

Frequently asked questions

What is global governance?

The collective management of transnational problems through institutions, norms, and actors, in the absence of a world government.