Centre of Expertise Global Governance

What 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