Barcelona Workshop on Global Governance: 2025 Edition

“Contesting the Global Order”

Effective global governance is needed more than ever. Yet, nearly everywhere, it is being
contested—and, in many cases, undermined. States recognize the need for cooperation but are
increasingly at odds over global rulemaking amidst geopolitical tensions, crises, and war. At
the same time, global governance is under pressure from within as polarization, protectionism,
and nationalist movements have grown across many regions. In the emerging battle for global
governance, institutions are being pulled apart and undermined by actors with opposing
interests and values. However, there are important countertrends. In some issue areas—
climate change, taxation, and nuclear non-proliferation, for instance—global governance
appears to have advanced despite deep-seated differences between actors. In others, conflict
and strategic competition seem to have become important drivers of cross-border cooperation.
The upcoming (8th) iteration of the Barcelona Workshop on Global Governance aims to unpack
and analyze these emergent patterns. In particular, it seeks to stimulate dialogue between
scholars working on the following and related questions:

  • What strategies are used to challenge, support, and change global institutions?
  • How are institutions responding to, reconciling, or circumventing interstate conflict?
  • When has competition between actors stimulated effectiveness and accountability?
  • Where is global governance fracturing, and how is this reshaping global dynamics?
    In this version of the Barcelona Workshop on Global Governance, we seek to explore these
    difficult but pressing questions, bringing together a dynamic group of scholars working on
    them from different theoretical approaches and analytical traditions

Venue

January 23, 2025: ESADE Business and Law School
January 24, 2025: Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals (IBEI)

Organized by

EsadeGeo-Center for Global Economy and Geopolitics, www.esadegeo.com
Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals (IBEI), www.ibei.org

Organizing Committee

Laura Chaqués Bonafont, IBEI
Charles Roger, IBEI
Angel Saz-Carranza, EsadeGeo
Marie Vandendriessche, EsadeGeo