The management of the global commons has become increasingly difficult under contemporary circumstances and the current system of global governance is no longer fit for purpose. The question then becomes – how can we reimagine and reinvent our global governance system in today’s complex world?
This was the discussion proposed by David Held, Master of University College, Durham and Professor of Politics and International Relations at Durham University in his recent Ted X Luissa talk on the theme of “Global Governance… Into the Future”. Working from Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s painting “The Allegory of the Good and the Bad Government”, Held explores what good governance might look like today. In a sense, we have come full circle from the depiction of the ideal city-state of Lorenzetti’s time. Though we have seen the rising importance of the nation-state, supranational entities, and the global governance system, the future might very well see governance focus returning to cities, as a projected 75% of the world’s population will soon be living in urban centres. How can these metropolises be incorporated in to a democratic public life at the global level?
Achieving this will indeed be a challenge for future governance. As is, global governance has become gridlocked through an increased number of actors confronting increasingly complex issues. The picture of good governance has become muddled through this multitude of actors operating on multiple levels to address multifaceted issues to such an extent that we have lost sight of what the ideal should look like. The resulting gridlock on issues of global cooperation such as nuclear weapons, climate change, and indeed global health issues such as Ebola and anti-microbial resistance, has stalled global governance when urgent decision-making is most needed. This necessitates a better understanding of the processes that lead to gridlock in order to find effective pathways out of it. In this way, we can begin to reimagine what good governance should look like.
Professor Held is a Principle Member of a 2-year research project with the Global Health Programme on “How to break the gridlock in global health governance” awarded by the Swiss Network for International Studies (SNIS).