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Global Interdependence and Effective Multilateralism

Illustration of global interdependence in communication, © iStockphoto/Alex Slobodkin
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While it is widely believed that transnational problems can only be addressed through cooperation and management on a global scale, there is a significant debate over how the mechanisms needed to accomplish these ends should be organized.

There are those, for example, who believe that normative or rights-based global interdependence and citizenship is a superior (i.e., more malleable) form of organization to more formal political collectivization. Others argue that respecting, protecting and building cosmopolitan diversity is all well and good but it is not enough to overcome existing structural inequalities. Only developing and implementing formal global governance architectures will do that, which means that we need to press ahead with the “transnationalization” of the world – its political behaviors and practices, its economic practices and its norms and laws.

This dossier explores the debate between the above two schools of global interdependence. It also provides an anticipatory look at global multilateralism, which will be the focus of an upcoming dossier.

NASA image showing the Arctic Ozone Loss, courtesy of NASA Goddard/flickr

Formal Global Interdependence – The Historical (and Western) Case for Global Governance

12 Dec 2011 / Special Feature

While calls for global governance gathered momentum throughout the 20th Century, its origins are steeped in history. Today, the ISN looks to the past to develop an argument for formal global interdependence. More on «Formal Global Interdependence – The Historical (and Western) Case for Global Governance»

Flags from UN member states, courtesy of Mark Chapman/flickr

Formal Global Interdependence: Mechanisms and Processes

13 Dec 2011 / Special Feature

Mechanisms of formal global governance can call upon an extensive array of statistics to demonstrate their value to the international system. Yet advocates and critics alike label these same mechanisms as 'unfit' for the challenges of the 21st Century. More on «Formal Global Interdependence: Mechanisms and Processes»

Alyn Ware © Right Livelihood Award/ Wolfgang Schmidt

Informal Global Governance: The Case of Nuclear Disarmament

14 Dec 2011 / Audio

Today, Alyn Ware talks about how civil society plays an increasingly active role in global governance and how global interdependence has made it easier for states to renounce nuclear weapons. More on «Informal Global Governance: The Case of Nuclear Disarmament»

Civil society organizations in front of UN, courtesy of Oxfam International/flickr

Informal Global Interdependence – Civil Society as a Two-Edged Sword

15 Dec 2011 / Special Feature

Today the ISN critically examines the roles of civil society actors in global governance. The focus lies on how NGOs and other actors contribute to implementing universal values such as human rights and global justice. More on «Informal Global Interdependence – Civil Society as a Two-Edged Sword»

The President of the European Council and the President of the European Commission welcome the Prime Minister of the People's Republic of China, Wen Jiabao, for the 13th EU-China Summit, courtesy of the European Council/flickr

Competing Visions of Effective Multilateralism

16 Dec 2011 / Special Feature

Distinctly regional perspectives regarding effective multilateralism shape approaches to global governance. Today, we present a European and a Chinese vision of the role and future of multilateralism in an international system subject to unprecedented structural change. More on «Competing Visions of Effective Multilateralism »

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