GLOBAL GOVERNANCE

Explanatory note for the choice of relevant journals for the study of global governance

Explanatory note for the choice of relevant journals for the study of global governance

Global governance has emerged as a dominant concept in international relations theory. Alternately normative and explanatory, it now has its own journal as well as an exponentially expanding literature.

It clearly emerged as a response to the inadequacy of either the classical realist or functionalist conceptions of global order to explain what had occurred at the end of the Cold War. Rosenau (1992) noted that governance is a more encompassing term than government, inclusive of non-governmental actors, a "system of rule" without, necessarily, authoritative institutions, which functions because of it acceptance "by the majority (or, at least, by the most powerful of those it affects)..." (p. 4) It is seen as a more comprehensive concept than regimes, an explanatory concept built on but somewhat of an alternative to the realist model, since regimes are issue-specific, whereas governance describes the whole political process at the international level.

Governance theoreticians hold diverse views about the importance of formal institutions in the process. Young (1995) argues that the new international institutions indeed are major actors, perhaps the most important ones, although he refers in this case to the formal institutions developed to deal with regimes. In commenting on an earlier formulation, Rosenau (1992, p. 9) notes that Young's formulation...posits the governance of international orders and regimes as different subcategories of international institutions. Such an additional conceptual layer, however, seems more optional than necessary. Institutions connote the presence of authoritative principles, norms, rules and procedures, thereby running the risk of obscuring the informal, non-authoritative dimensions that are so essential to the functioning of international orders and regimes.

One consequence of this view has been to look away from formal institutions and, instead, look into the informal ways in which order is constructed. For example, Haas and Haas (1995) examine the role of technical knowledge in developing international approaches to environmental management in terms of what are called "epistemic communities". There is also an emphasis on non-governmental participants in the process, under the heading civil society. This term goes beyond the traditional non-governmental organizations that participate in activities of the United Nations to include, for example, the private sector. Lipschutz (1997), for example, discusses the connection between local environmental action groups and the international regimes related to the environment.

These tendencies ...