Search

The purpose of this article is to establish the value of looking at global governance from the point of view of those who are governed, thereby making them more visible in a field in which they have often had too little profile. This is a necessary addition to an evolving global governance scholarship that seeks to highlight greater sensitivity to issues of complexity, time, space, continuity, and change. We explore recent advances in the literature emphasizing that, although much has been done to enhance global governance as an analytical endeavor, far more intensive efforts are required to reflect the everyday experiences of the globally governed. Three examples of everyday global governance are provided to illustrate how more meaningful research could be accomplished and the potential payoffs that could result. KEYWORDS: global governance, the everyday, international organization, international law, world order., GLOBAL GOVERNANCE EVOKES IMAGES OF WELL-PAID AND WELL-FED INTERNAtional bureaucrats in New York and Geneva, world conferences in glamorous cities on issues of planetary significance, and geopolitical wrangles about appointees [...]

International relations teeters on the edge of an abyss of irrelevance. As an academic pursuit, it has become disparate and fragmented. Those of us in the discipline have ceased to pursue greater clarity in the way that we understand the world around us. Moreover, we have failed as agents of change; that is, as purveyors of opinion and proposals about a better and fairer world order. As such, we no longer serve our students and those practitioners who seek our advice, or, for those of us who take on policy jobs, to push out the envelope of what is considered acceptable. Global governance offers one potentially compelling way of 'saving international relations'--though it is not without its problems. This article outlines how and why. The argument unfolds in three parts. The first outlines why and how IR teeters on the edge of an abyss. The second offers a proposal for moving beyond the fragmentation and atomization that afflicts international relations. We suggest that one way of encouraging reengagement is to return to debating grand questions that used to be the sustenance of IR. The third part argues that global governance--appropriately and specifically framed to make it fit for purpose--offers an opportunity to return to these questions and, in so doing, reinvigorate our fragmented and atomized field. KEYWORDS: international relations, global governance, world politics, international organization, theory, praxis., OUR PURPOSE IN THIS ARTICLE IS TO PROVOKE AND PROPOSE. WE AIM TO PROVOKE a reaction from our colleagues who, at worst, have not yet awakened to the fact that [...]

The study by International Labour Organization (ILO) aims to find alternative ways through which global consensus on the regulation of labour standards can be developed. It is concluded that the focus on core labour standards provides a platform for progress in labour protection and an influential outcome in placing the ILO at the centre of attempts to integrate social policy into global economic governance.

In opulent surroundings, representatives of the World Trade Organization's (WTO) 146 member states met 10-14 September 2003 in Cancun to discuss progress in the so-called development round--officially the Doha Development [...]

An analysis is presented on the Global Compact, a socioeconomic policy launched by the United Nations that addresses humanitarian and environmental concerns resulting from an increasingly globalized economy. The authors caution that the Compact could be used to deflect discussions of these concerns away from other entities, such as the World Trade Organization, which should remain legitimate, accountable forums.

An analysis of the collapse of the WTO talks in Cancun in September 2003 is presented. It is suggested that the collapse must be ascertained as an inevitable result of deep-seated tensions within the WTO's institutional framework.