Global Governance Innovations on the Road to 2020 explored in Boulder, Washington, Rome, The Hague, and Caux

In July, Stimson’s Just Security 2020 Program contributed to a rich set of discussions on the future of global governance, as the international community fast approaches the two-years-to-go mark for the expected Leaders Summit, in September 2020 in New York, on the occasion of the United Nations 75th Anniversary commemoration. These diverse conversations highlighted the growing movement of scholars, activists, practitioners, and policy-makers worldwide dedicated to making global institutions, states, civil society, and the business community together more inclusive and capable of addressing 21st century challenges, from growing mass violence and climate change to cross-border economic shocks and cyber-attacks.

In reverse order, the inaugural Global Town Hall for GLobal Governance Innovation and Reform (held from 21-23 July in Boulder) featured a keynote address on “Confronting the Crisis of Global Governance: Highlights and Hopes” by Stimson Center Distinguished Fellow and President Emeritus Ellen Laipson (see above photo), as well as remarks on “The European Union Experience with Multi-State Governance” by the EU’s representative to the United States, H.E. Ambassador David O’Sullivan. From 16-17 July at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C., the Just Security 2020 Program participated in the 8th U.S.-China Peace Forum and delivered a presentation on the United Nations Secretary-General and Member States’ approaches to reform within the context of the new “sustaining peace” agenda.

The finding and recommendations of the new book Just Security in an Undergoverned World (OUP, 2018) were underscored in a special luncheon event at the 2018 Annual Meeting of the Academic Council on the United Nations System (held from 12-14 July in Rome), which focused this year on the themes of human rights, migration, and global governance. Vesselin Popovski, Professor and Vice Dean of Jindal Global Law School, presented his chapter on “Renovating the Principal Organs of the United Nations”; Anja Mihr, Visiting Professor of International Relations at Hebrew University, presented her co-authored chapter on “Rule of Law, Security, and Transitional Justice in Fragile and Conflict-affected Societies”; Peter Stoett, Dean of the Faculty of Social Science and Humanities at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, presented his chapter on “Unearthing Under-governed Territory: Transnational Environmental Crime”; and Richard Ponzio, Director of the Just Security 2020 Program, presented his co-authored chapter on “Mobilizing Smart Coalitions and Negotiating Global Governance Reform.”

On 11 July at the Peace Palace (ICJ) in The Hague, Professor Joris Larik, Assistant Professor of Comparative, EU, and International Law at Leiden University and co-editor of Just Security in an Undergoverned World, and Ponzio helped to stand-up the new “Getting-from-Here-to-There Working Group” (an outgrowth of the 27-29 May 2018 New Shape Forum in Stockholm, organized by the Global Challenges Foundation) to mobilize global networks around specific global governance reforms. Fergus Watt, International Coordinator of the UN 2020 Initiative, and Ponzio also presented an overview of UN 2020 at the quadrennial Congress of the World Federalist Movement (WFM), held from 9-13 July in The Hague. Finally, from 4-8 July in Caux (overlooking Montreux, Switzerland where WFM was founded in 1947), Ponzio delivered three presentations on the Just Security 2020 Program’s efforts to advance the Albright-Gambari Commission recommendations at the Caux Forum on Just Governance for Human Security (see photo below), including a Fireside Chat on “UN System Revitalization by 2020: Why It Matters, the New Global Actors, and What You Personally Can Do to Transform Global Governance.”

Stay tuned for future updates on the program’s fall calendar and new publications, including the inaugural Workable World Trust Lecture at the Nobel Peace Prize Forum in September in Minneapolis, launch of the new Platform on Global Security, Justice & Governance Reform and more Just Security book events too in October in Washington, D.C. and at UN Headquarters, a presentation of the new Platform in November at the Paris Peace Forum, and a Track 1.5 Global Policy Dialogue and associated new policy brief on Sustaining Peace, Preventing Violent Conflict, and Global Governance Innovation in December in Doha.

 

Subscription Options

* indicates required

Research Areas

Pivotal Places

Publications & Project Lists

38 North: News and Analysis on North Korea