The European Union (EU) and its members have long been key supporters of multilateralism and a system of global governance that is rules-based, effective, legitimate, and democratic. Many of the global challenges we are currently facing – such as climate change, pandemics,migration, inequalities, and digitalisation – can only be tackled through international cooperation. This requires a robust and effective rules-based system, but also democratic participation beyond the nation-state: The global challenges of the twenty-first century affect our societies as a whole.
EU support for global governance is longstanding, yet multilateralism and the rules-based international order are widely believed to be in crisis – or at least gridlocked and contested. The evidence is many-fold: Emerging powers, notably China, have put the multilateral system under pressure. Populist forces in domestic politics have questioned international cooperation. The ongoing Russian war in Ukraine has further shown that global problems cannot be easily solved. Thus, in a contested world in transition, global governance transformation is not evident.
In ENSURED, we want to address the following research question: How can the EU and its members, in a contested world in transition, transform and defend global governance to make it more robust, effective and democratic? To this end, this report provides the conceptual framework for the project and serves as its intellectual backbone.
It constitutes the basis for ENSURED's core outputs, including:
- 15 empirical case studies of the ongoing reforms in international institutions;
- Comparative and cross-sectional analyses of the robustness, effectiveness, and democracy of international institutions;
- An expert survey on likely scenarios for global governance.
In this conceptual framework, we provide a comprehensive definition of the three core concepts of the ENSURED project: robustness, effectiveness, and democracy of global governance. We also provide definitions of sub-dimensions for each concept and develop an operationalisation with ready-to-use indicators for researchers to apply during the project. We explore the trade-offs and synergies in the interplay of the three core concepts, introduce a framework designed to identify the positions of major international actors on global governance more broadly and on these three core concepts specifically, and develop scenarios for global governance transformation. We also consider the distinct role and approach that the EU and its member states pursue in defending and transforming global governance.
In a contested world in transition, global governance transformation is not evident.
This conceptual framework begins with a discussion of the core concepts of democracy, effectiveness, and robustness in international institutions and then proceeds to an analysis of their interactions. We then unpack major international actors’ positions on institutional reform and conclude with possible scenarios for global governance transformation and the specific role that the EU can play in each scenario. In the conclusion, the conceptual framework provides an overview of the methodology and the empirical analyses that will guide the remainder of the ENSURED project.
Citation recommendation: Choi, Ha Eun, Hylke Dijkstra, Andrea Liese, Thomas Sommerer, and Clara Weinhardt. 2024. “EU Support for Robust, Effective, and Democratic Global Governance: A Conceptual Framework.” ENSURED Research Report, no. 4 (July): 1-44. https://www.ensuredeurope.eu
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