Global Governance is a very salient issue on the international agenda: it refers to the rule making efforts to sustain cooperation in order to address global problems or concerns. Increasingly the world has to deal with security threats, financial breakdown, development concerns and deteriorating environmental conditions. States try to coordinate their efforts to respond to these challenges through the establishment of international institutions like the UN, the WTO and the treaties governing environmental change. However, states have enjoyed a varying degree of success in setting up institutions to govern common problems, and therefore non-state actors have increasingly been involved in providing intellectual and financial resources to deal with international problems.
This course reviews both state and non-state structures and efforts to resolve common problems of mankind in the areas of security, economy, human rights, development and environment. The first few weeks will be focused on conceptual and historical issues. How do we understand governance? How do international institutions and other actors contribute to the provision of governance? How can we judge their success in doing so? We then move on to examine specific areas of governance and focus on the drivers of progress and the constraints encountered by relevant stakeholders in the areas of security, economy, human rights, development and ecology. Common themes throughout feature: conflict between North and South; the ability of institutions to contribute to successful cooperation between states; the role of non-state actors in contributing to governance solutions and their relationship to states.
These courses are taught by a combination of lectures, classes and directed reading.
This module is available as:
Autumn term only 10 credit unit – 3,000 word assessed essay
Spring term only 10 credit unit – 3,000 word assessed essay
Whole Year 20 credit unit – 2 x 2,000 word summative essays (25%) each, plus 3 hour examination (50%)