Development Post-2015: why global governance matters

Blankenbach, Johannes
Externe Publikationen (2014)

in: Sarah S. Aneel / Uzma T. Haroon / Imrana Niazi, Sustainable development in South Asia: shaping the future, Lahore: Sang-e-Meel Publ., 47-68

ISBN: 969-352-671-6
Volltext/Document

This paper tries to assess whether and why global governance matters for sustainable human development on the ground. In theory, the link between global governance and local development is quite clear: global governance can be considered a pre-condition for cooperation on global public goods as it changes risk perceptions and bridges knowledge and compliance gaps that would normally prevent stakeholders from collaborative action. In turn, the global public goods that state and non-state parties commit to in forums of global governance are instrumental for development on the ground.
In practice, however, several multilateral processes relating to global public goods are stagnating, such as the WTO Doha round and the Kyoto process. Among other factors, a lack of adaptation to the changing world order, resulting in unrepresentative institutions, as well as insufficient linkages between the different fields and mechanism of global governance may account for the poor performance of the current system. Suggestions on how to improve it follow straight from what has been identified as core shortcomings, with the post-2015 development agenda receiving special attention as it may provide a future vision for coherent global governance as a whole.