A Critical View of Global Governance
Journal
Swiss Political Science Review
ISSN
1424-7755
ISSN-Digital
1662-6370
Type
journal article
Date Issued
2012-06
Author(s)
Abstract
This article suggests that various dimensions of the larger project of global governance are incoherent and illegitimate. Three dimensions of global governance - the provision of global public goods; processes of transnational regulation; and efforts to spread universal human rights - are examined and found to be deficient in terms of the ability of affected populations to participate in decisions over value trade-offs. Citizens' rights to participation in democratic processes often have been diminished as the locus of political decision making has shifted: on the one hand, to institutions beyond the territorial borders of the nation state; on the other, away from political institutions and towards "global civil society," which seems oddly intolerant of diversity. But if global governance is anti-pluralist and disenfranchising, it risks devolving into an imperial project. Hence, the paper concludes with a plea for a return to international politics as a control on the threat of empire.
Language
English
Keywords
Global governance
Human rights
Transnational regulation
Transnational politics
Accountability
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
HSG Profile Area
SEPS - Global Democratic Governance
Refereed
Yes
Publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
Publisher place
Hoboken
Volume
18
Number
2
Start page
272
End page
286
Pages
15
Subject(s)
Eprints ID
224119