The Case for Good Enough Global Governance
December 6, 2013
Summary:
International cooperation is increasingly taking place outside formal institutions, as frustrated actors turn to informal groups and ad hoc venues. The resulting clutter may be unsightly, but it’s here to stay -- so the challenge is to make it work as well as possible.
While campaigning for president in 2008, Barack Obama pledged to renovate the dilapidated multilateral edifice the United States had erected after World War II. He lionized the generation of Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and George Marshall for creating the United Nations, the Bretton Woods institutions, and NATO.
Global cooperation is increasingly occurring outside formal institutions, as frustrated actors turn to more ad hoc venues.
Global disorder is here to stay, so the challenge is to make it work as well as possible.
Regional organizations are giving universal bodies a run for their money.