The current financial crisis exemplifies the limits and the capacities of nation states to unilaterally solve economic problems. The deterioration of the environment and global warming also show that no country can solve environmental issues alone. The notion of sovereignty is being defied by the global challenges humankind is facing. In this context, international and transnational institutions become even more crucial to cope with problems that reach across country borders and affect the entire world.
However, at a time when global governance is most needed, there is simultaneously a sense of impossibility and incapacity of reaching international consensus and agreement (e.g. global financial regulation, Doha round trade negotiation, climate change agreements). Still, there are plenty of examples of international agreements, standards, institutions, and rules globally accepted and enforced.
The aim of the “Barcelona Workshop on Global Governance” is to provide a venue for the study of global institutions from an institutional and organization design perspective. While most research on international organizations has used global institutions as the platforms where states —the fundamental units— interact, this workshop will focus on international governmental organizations (IGOs) themselves as the building blocks of global governance. Research has been scarce on the institutional design and analysis of international organizations, compared to other aspects related to global governance.
The broad focus of the Barcelona Workshop on Global Governance will be on the range of institutional and organizational designs and mechanisms of international governmental organizations addressing global governance challenges. In studying these governance structures and their intricacies, the workshop hopes to shed some light on how international governance mechanisms can be at their most effective in solving global problems. With this overarching aim in mind, the workshop will focus on the following questions:
- Which organizational and network forms do global institutions adopt in order to facilitate cooperation in solving global problems?
- What is the performance of global institutions? How can the performance of global institutions be
measured? - How are the leaders of global governance institutions chosen? What capacities do they have?
- How are these organizations structured? And how are they governed?
- How does the type of global public good being addressed affect the design of IGOs? What institutional arrangements best address the distinct global commons?
- How does membership affect the structure of IGOs? How are IGOs accountable to their principals?
Venue
January 14, 2013: Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals (IBEI): C/ Elisabets 10, Barcelona – www.ibei.org
January 15, 2013: ESADE Business and Law School: Edifici 3, Avda d’Esplugues 92-96, Barcelona – www.esade.com
Organized by
EsadeGeo-Center for Global Economy and Geopolitics, www.esadegeo.com
Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals (IBEI), www.ibei.org
Organizing Committee
Xavier Fernández i Marín (ESADE)
Jacint Jordana Casajuana (IBEI-UPF)
Robert Kissack (IBEI)
Nico Krisch (ICREA-IBEI)
Francisco Longo Martínez (ESADE)
Carlos Losada Madorrán (ESADE)
Angel Saz-Carranza (ESADE).
⬇️Download the detailed program in PDF here