Centre of Expertise Global Governance
New actors and new solutions for global governance challengesWhat does global governance really mean?
Can you describe what global governance is – or what it actually means in the real world?
Today, global governance is primarily understood as the affairs of states and global governance institutions. But the more we focus on states and institutions, the more confusing this concept seems – especially with governance structures around the world evolving rapidly.
To start, many of the local institutions, agencies, and citizens doing the concrete work of global governance are underrepresented in traditional global governance institutions – a problem described by the ‘participation gap’.
At the same time, those who are most affected by global problems – such as citizens, students, or practitioners – are often puzzled by how global governance works in practice. This issue is known as the ‘information gap’.
For example, to tackle climate change, state actors must collaborate at multiple levels. But citizens, students, and practitioners themselves rarely know what actions are being taken locally – through community work, local governance, or private-public partnerships – to combat climate change.
Toward a broader understanding
But these dilemmas can be resolved. By understanding that global governance is really a world of local practices and local solutions, we can drive a more inclusive approach to it.
That’s why our mission at the Centre of Expertise on Global Governance is to improve understanding of how global governance works in practice (“New Actors, New Solutions”). In particular, we have four key goals:
1. Increasing the practical knowledge and skills of students in fields relevant to global governance;
2. Contributing to the professionalization of global governance through professional training courses and applied research;
3. Improving the public visibility of and engagement with the institutions shaping global governance by professionals, citizens, and youth;
4. Contributing to the development of new practical solutions that drive collaborative, inclusive, innovative governance at international, regional, national, and local levels. These solutions should be conducive to inclusion, equal representation, accountability, and legitimacy.
How do we support more inclusive global governance?
Inspired by the field of climate governance, we see global governance as a network of interdependent actors solving global problems together. Guided by this understanding, we study global problems with the people directly involved in those problems – what they do, how they do it, and how their practices can be improved.
We do this through communities of practice, and by using qualitative research methods such as interviews, surveys, focus discussion groups, archival work, and citizen science. We also collaborate on projects in development governance, climate change, women’s rights, and diversity.
This allows us to identify more local practices by new, underrepresented actors as being part of global governance, and to develop new collaborative solutions to global problems.
Our research program is regularly reviewed to make sure it represents the fast-changing reality of global governance, and builds on three key areas of expertise:
1) European studies and public administration
2) United Nations Studies in Peace and Justice
3) Multilevel regulation and alternative dispute resolution
Research groups
Projects
Call for Proposals
Understanding the effects of heatwaves on vulnerable population groups in the municipality of The Hague.
Academy of Global Governance Innovators
Call for volunteers – take part in our new citizen science project "Trust MEdiators"!
Conflicts happen every day, often in an intercultural context. These conflicts frequently arise because we don’t really know how to talk to or collaborate with people from different cultures.
Global Challenges in 365 Days: Creating student science on global governance
Professional training courses on ‘Global Governance in Practice’
The Community of Practice on Global Governance in practice
The Textbook on “Global Governance in Practice”
One of the important missions of our Centre is to increase practical knowledge of students on issues of global governance in selected programmes at THUAS. For this purpose, the Centre has started the development of a student textbook on Global Governance in Practice.
Researchers in the spotlight
Researcher in the spotlight: Christine Tremblay
Christine Tremblay, lecturer at The Hague University of Applied Sciences, is starting a weekly reading discussion group exploring diversity and inclusion. Diversity and inclusion is an important and vibrant subject for THUAS studen...
Read moreResearcher in the spotlight: Ruud Schapenk
“It’s a major challenge for any researcher to convey the results of dense research in an accessible and almost effervescent way. However, a podcast is an excellent way to achieve that. Together with Dr. Mendeltje van Keulen, profes...
Read moreRecent publications
Decentralisatie: hét antwoord op de Arabische Lente?
The so-called “Arab Spring” originated in the socio-economic grievances which resulted from the long-standing regional inequalities in many countries in the Middle East and North Africa. One of the policy responses was to deepen ongoing decentralisation reforms, or design and implement new ones, ostensibly in a bid to increase citizen participation in local governance and service delivery. In this article published by the Clingendael Spectator, Sylvia I. Bergh takes stock of these reforms in Morocco, Tunisia, and Jordan, and finds that the reforms’ implementation suffer from weak or ambiguous legal frameworks and a lack of adequate human and financial resources. Decentralisation reforms have at best offered a (temporary) solution to the crisis of legitimacy of both authoritarian regimes and newly elected governments. However, they do not (yet) provide a substantive response the protesters' ongoing demands for socio-economic justice.
Read more >
The third, completely revised edition of Wereld in Beweging, the Dutch textbook on international relations for HBO students, is out!
The world is on fire: Corona, Afghanistan, climate change. As Europe and the US grapple with their role on the world stage, new super powers are emerging. Wars are hybrid, and a pandemic has frozen our image. How do these themes relate to each other, what is their shared history? To understand the present you need to know the backgrounds of the current crises. Wereld in Beweging is a co-production of experts in international relations. The book is open access available to students of The Hague University of Applied Sciences. A free teacher's copy can be requested at Boom’s website.
Read more >
Centre of Expertise Publications
Research Group Changing Role of Europe
Article
SARS-COV-2 Vaccination and Employment: the Legal Framework in the EU and Hungary
Peer-reviewed journal article; dec. 2020
The Role of Constitutional Courts in Promoting Healthcare Equity: Lessons from Hungary
Article
Tackling the COVID-19 pandemic: Are the EU’s current competences used to their full potential?
Book
What do they actually do there? Interviews with Dutch members of the European Parliament
Research Group Multilevel Regulation
Written text of the inaugural lecture
Returning to the Origins of Multilevel Regulation
Manifesto
The Multilevel Regulation Manifesto
Research Group United Nations Studies in Peace and Justice
Report
Future of the UN - A Youth Perspective
Report
The United Nations after Brexit
Report
Just Peace X UN Youth Impact: Statelessness and Peaceful Societies
Essays
Trip to the UN: Essays by young students of the Van Aartsen Honours Program
Blog
Women face an ‘extra responsibility’ in the armed forces
Article
SARS-COV-2 Vaccination and Employment: the Legal Framework in the EU and Hungary
The paper explores whether and under what conditions, vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 may become a mandatory requirement for employees. It includes a discussion on EU action on SARS-CoV-2 vaccination and its relevance for national level policy with emphasis on the legal basis and instruments used by the Union to persuade national authorities into action to increase vaccination uptake. The analysis then moves to the national level by focusing on the case of Hungary. Following an overview of the legal and regulatory framework for SARS-CoV-2 vaccines deployment, the analysis zooms into the sphere of employment and explores whether and how the SARS-CoV-2 vaccination may be turned into a mandatory workplace safety requirement. The paper highlights the decision of the Hungarian government to introduce compulsory vaccination for employees in the healthcare sector, and concludes with a discussion of the relevant rules and their potential, broader implications.
See full text in pdf: https://journals.um.si/index.php/medicine/article/view/1369
Peer-reviewed journal article; dec. 2020
The Role of Constitutional Courts in Promoting Healthcare Equity: Lessons from Hungary
This paper explores whether constitutional litigation contributes to sustaining the equity element of the right to health. Equity entails a fair distribution of the burden of healthcare financing across the different socio-economic groups of the population. A shift towards uncontrolled private healthcare provision and financing raises equity challenges by disproportionately benefitting those who are able to afford such services.
See full PDF text on: https://doi.org/10.31078/consrev624
Constitutional Review, Volume 6, Number 2, December 2020, , P-ISSN: 2460-0016 (print), E-ISSN: 2548-3870 (online)Book
What do they actually do there? Interviews with Dutch members of the European Parliament
Every five years, elections for the European Parliament are held in the Netherlands. However, it is difficult for citizens to cast a substantiated vote. Newspapers and television pay relatively little attention to European politics. As a result, citizens have little insight into what Dutch politicians do on their behalf in Brussels, Strasbourg and in their work in the Netherlands.
This book describes the work of Dutch members of the European Parliament since 2014. They discuss their activities, the results they are proud of and how they stay in touch with their supporters. This makes it a must-read for every European voter.Read more >
Team
dr. Barbara Warwas
Director and Professor Multilevel Regulation
dr. Mendeltje van Keulen
Professor Changing Role of Europe
Maaike de Loor
Programme Coordinator
dr. Tamara Takács
Coordinator of Professional Trainings
dr. Sylvia Bergh
Senior Researcher
Debora Spinabelli
Senior Management Assistant
Georgia Delgado-Fitzgerald
Student Assistant
Sara Kermjioui
Student Assistant Communication
Daiane de Almeida Barros-Schwab
Student Assistant Communication
Jaap de Zwaan
Fellow European Integration
prof. dr. ir. Joris Voorhoeve
Fellow Global Governance
Director and Professor Multilevel Regulation
dr. Barbara Warwas
Dr. Barbara Warwas has been employed at THUAS since 2016 in roles as coordinator and lecturer at the International and European Law Programme. In 2018 she was appointed as Professor of Multilevel Regulation. In 2019, she additionally became the Director of the Global Governance Centre of Expertise. Barbara is the author of The Liability of Arbitral Institutions: Legitimacy Challenges and Functional Responses published by Springer, 2016. In 2014, she worked as a drafter, researcher, and administrator for the ground-breaking study on the Legal Instruments and Practices of Arbitration in the EU and Switzerland, commissioned by the European Parliament. Barbara has a PhD in Law from the European University Institute (Florence, Italy). Prior to joining The Hague University, Barbara worked as visiting counsel in the litigation department at GE Oil & Gas in Florence and in the Italian law firm Studio Legale Calabresi Guadalupi.
Professor Changing Role of Europe
dr. Mendeltje van Keulen
Programme Coordinator
Maaike de Loor
Coordinator of Professional Trainings
dr. Tamara Takács
Senior Researcher
dr. Sylvia Bergh
Senior Management Assistant
Debora Spinabelli
d.spinabelli@hhs.nl
Student Assistant
Georgia Delgado-Fitzgerald
Student Assistant Communication
Sara Kermjioui
Fellow European Integration
Jaap de Zwaan
In the period September 2005 until May 2011 De Zwaan was Director of the Netherlands Institute of International Relations, ‘Clingendael’, a think tank as well as diplomatic academy.
In May 2011 he returned to Erasmus University Rotterdam. In March 2014 he delivered his valedictory lecture at that university.
As from May 2012 De Zwaan has also been active, on a part-time basis, as Professor European Integration and, since April 2017, as Fellow at the The Hague University of Applied Sciences.
Until the present day Jaap de Zwaan is still working in various fields related to European Union law and policies. His main domains of EU interest are related to respectively the constitutional debate, the internal market cooperation, the area of freedom, security and justice (notably EU asylum and immigration law and policy), and the external relations of the EU.
Fellow Global Governance
prof. dr. ir. Joris Voorhoeve
Joris Voorhoeve promoveerde in 1974 aan de Johns Hopkins Universiteit. Hij werd in 1979 benoemd tot hoogleraar Internationale Betrekkingen en Ontwikkelingen aan de Universiteit Wageningen. Sinds 1990 is hij deeltijd hoogleraar Internationale Organisaties in Leiden. Voorhoeve was ruim twintig jaar actief in de politiek (als parlementslid en fractievoorzitter van de VVD, minister van Defensie en lid van de Raad van State). De laatste jaren wijdt hij zich weer aan onderzoek en onderwijs, naast het bestuur van internationale niet-gouvernementele organisaties zoals Oxfam Novib en het Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict. Van 2011 t/m 2017 was Voorhoeve lector aan de Haagse. Per 1 januari 2018 draagt Joris Voorhoeve als Fellow (emeritus-lector) nog steeds bij aan onderzoek en onderwijs van De Haagse Hogeschool.
j.j.c.voorhoeve@hhs.nl