Rethinking Global Governance

Once celebrated as an answer to the myriad ills of the post-Cold War era, global governance is now in trouble. Its meaning is contested; its record is patchy; and its prospects are limited. Rethinking Global Governance casts fresh eyes upon this once poignant but now languishing concept. Its purpose is to disrupt the simple association between global governance and the actions and activities of international organizations in the post-Cold War era, and to focus instead on a set of questions that probe the intricate and multifaceted manner in which the world is governed: What is global governance? When did it start? What is “global” about global governance? How is global governance received? The book moves beyond the ubiquity and imprecision that has plagued the term and offers an intellectual framework with the potential to improve both thinking and practice. Building on the analytical insights from two of the leading scholars in the field, Rethinking Global Governance provides an antidote to simplistic usage and an authoritative yet readable attempt to grasp the governance of our globe – past, present, and future.

Thomas G. Weiss is Presidential Professor at the Graduate Center, City University of New York.

Rorden Wilkinson is Professor of Global Political Economy and Deputy Pro-Vice- Chancellor at the University of Sussex.