Advancing research and policy on global governance
Climate Governance: Institution-Building and the EU
Denny Ellerman
The Climate Governance research strand builds on the research carried out in the past year, also in collaboration with the Climate Policy Research Unit, and in the coming year will explore the unique governance issues presented by climate change, in particular that of the creation and organisation of suitable global governance institutions.
In the area of climate, the EU is rapidly becoming a leader on the global stage and an example of how participating nations can overcome differences in national priorities and circumstances to pursue common goals. Building on this insight, the strand will devote particular attention to research concerning the effectiveness of actions and institutions developed within the EU to address the climate problem and investigate
the interaction of renewable energy and emissions-trading policies, the way firms respond to a carbon price, and the use and pricing of offsets in trading systems.
Cultural Pluralism: the Driver for Social Innovation
Anna Triandafyllidou
In its first year of activity this research strand will explore the major cultural diversity challenges that Europe is facing in today’s globalised world. Significant and effective action is hard for national and local governments to achieve, thus the strand explores the national, regional and global dimensions of such challenges and develop policy-oriented research on four core research themes, aiming at finding an answer to some key questions.
New Global Others – Cultural Diversity after 1989 and 9/11 - Are Muslims the Significant Others of the West in the 21st Century, and if yes, why? Why is religious diversity so problematic in Europe while in the USA it is language diversity to represent a problem? How do post Communist and Eurasian countries deal with ethnic diversity?
The EU Eastern Enlargement: New Cultural and Ethnic Diversity Challenges - How is cultural and religious diversity within the EU dealt with? What is the role of EU citizenship? How are such processes affected by the current global and European economic crisis?
Governing "Old" and "New" Minority Identities: Legal Perspectives - How does international law contribute to shaping social reality? What is the role of international organisations in shaping national policies in this domain? What kind of international minority rights regimes are emerging in Europe and elsewhere? What are their normative and political bases and how effective are they?
The Global Financial Crisis: Accommodating Cultural Diversity between a Rock and a Hard Place - What is the relationship between economic solidarity and cultural diversity? Is cultural diversity an advantage or a liability for facing the current economic crisis? What are the lessons that Europe can draw from Asia, America and Africa in this domain?
Development: Emerging Markets and International Co-operation
Giorgia Giovannetti
In 2013 the Development research strand concentrates on: development policies and the impact of international integration on the emerging markets. The study of development policies, unfolds in three research projects:
a) governance of official development assistance (ODA) - the RS will specifically develop proposals for governance reforms of the UN Rome-based Agencies (FAO, IFAD and WFP); b) social protection - building on earlier research and on a partnership with the AfDB, the strand will study the linkages between social protection policy and multi-dimensional approaches to poverty, risk and vulnerability; c) poverty and vulnerability in less developed countries – the strand will focus on the impact of bad governance in countries with diffuse poverty in the specific case of recent "grabbing deals" and their social consequences.
The strand will also investigate the impact of international integration on the emerging markets - on bilateral trade, foreign direct investment and other capital flows - as well as complex forms of interaction, including the role of migration in shaping economic relations and the effects of increasing international co-operation towards developing countries.
Global Economics: Multilateral Co-operation and Policy Spill-overs
Bernard Hoekman
The strand will begin its research activities in February 2013. It will aim to contribute to a better understanding of the need for – and design of – multi-lateral economic co-operation in an increasingly multi-polar world
through analysis of policy spill-overs and options to improve the global governance of economic policies.
Examples of specific issues which will be investigated include: the policy implications of international supply chains, issues related to the design and enforcement of intellectual property rights, the implications of the “servitisation” of economic activities, tax/subsidy policies and related incentives, the efficiency and efficacy of public procurement policies, the impact of state-owned or state-controlled enterprises, and the role of services-related policies in determining the design and efficiency of supply chains and firm-level productivity performance.
International Trade Observatory
Petros C. Mavroidis
Building on the past year's research activities, the International Trade Observatory (ITO) aims to further a better understanding of the dynamics at stake in the field of multi-lateral and regional trade integration, with a special insight into the WTO, to generate policy debates and provide policy recommendations on the main challenges of international trade, both present and future.
The ITO will also sponsor the newly-established Working Group on International Trade and Investment, a forum put together at the initiative of a number of EUI researchers, where experts in the fields of trade and investment such as Mads Adenas (University of Oslo and member of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention – OHCHR), Joseph McMahon (University College Dublin), and Mark Koulen (WTO), have agreed to present their most recent work.
Modes of Global Governance
Miguel Poiares Maduro
The Modes of Global Governance research strand aims to identify the issues that require forms of governance beyond the state. In 2013, with diverse projects, the strand will investigate what such forms can be, at the regional and global level. Building on the methodology of comparative institutional analysis, developed by Neil Komesar (Wisconsin University), a project will aim to establish a framework for understanding and shaping institutional choices beyond the state. Other projects will study particular forms of global governance, such as the institutional design used in different integration schemes (Carlos Closa Montero – CSIC), the judicial and legal networks as informal mechanisms of global governance (Antoine Vauchez – CESSP), the different procedures for the regulation of the Internet and enforcement of different institutional alternatives, especially with regard to the impact on social media and on international relations (Eric Brousseau – Université Paris Dauphine and EUI; Alexander Trechsel and Giovanni Sartor –EUI).
Stefano Rodotà, Italian Data Protection Authority
