Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ENSURED (Transforming and Defending Multilateralism: European Union Support for more Robust, Effective and Democratic Global Governance)
Période du rapport: 2023-11-01 au 2024-10-31
In an era marked by global challenges, international cooperation is more essential than ever. Yet multilateral initiatives too often end in gridlock, as dominant states seek to bend the global order to their own interests. Populist parties in domestic politics constrain national politicians as they negotiate in international institutions, while the emerging powers demand institutional reform in line with a changing balance of power. Enter ENSURED, a Horizon Europe-funded research consortium studying how the EU and its member states can better defend multilateralism and make global governance more robust, effective, and democratic.
ENSURED focuses on key policy domains that by their very nature pose complex transnational challenges. These include global trade, climate and biodiversity, global health, migration and human rights as well as the international challenges stemming from digitalisation. Our research assesses the state of play in these different areas and investigates the EU’s strengths and weaknesses as an actor working to defend and transform multilateralism. Our guiding hypothesis is that the EU and its member states need to make choices when seeking to defend and transform global governance institutions. We are keen to find out what choices the EU makes across different policy areas and how experiences in one policy area can inform EU practices in other areas.
Embracing the ethos of multilateral cooperation, the ENSURED consortium comprises universities, think tanks, and civil society groups from across Europe and around the globe. We aim to equip policymakers in the EU with evidence-based insights, actionable recommendations, and practical tools to promote better global governance for a world in transition.
ENSURED focuses on key policy domains that by their very nature pose complex transnational challenges. These include global trade, climate and biodiversity, global health, migration and human rights as well as the international challenges stemming from digitalisation. Our research assesses the state of play in these different areas and investigates the EU’s strengths and weaknesses as an actor working to defend and transform multilateralism. Our guiding hypothesis is that the EU and its member states need to make choices when seeking to defend and transform global governance institutions. We are keen to find out what choices the EU makes across different policy areas and how experiences in one policy area can inform EU practices in other areas.
Embracing the ethos of multilateral cooperation, the ENSURED consortium comprises universities, think tanks, and civil society groups from across Europe and around the globe. We aim to equip policymakers in the EU with evidence-based insights, actionable recommendations, and practical tools to promote better global governance for a world in transition.
The ENSURED project started in November 2023. To kick off of our research, we reviewed the academic and policy literature on global governance and the EU’s support for the reform of multilateralism. We summarised key findings and discussed their relevance to ENSURED’s goals in three literature reviews. These literature reviews engaged with three hitherto separate bodies of research dealing with international organisations, the crisis of liberal international order and the EU and international institutions. By integrating those insights, we developed our conceptual framework on global governance transformation, which builds out from three core properties of global governance: robustness, effectiveness, and democracy.
To test, refine, and develop the framework, we sought input from other researchers as well as ENSURED’s advisory board and civil society. Our aim is to introduce new concepts and theories that enrich understandings of global governance in academic debates and across different thematic areas. Finally, we have explored different scenarios for how global governance will likely develop and how it could be transformed considering the beliefs, interests, and strategies of major international actors. This conceptual framework forms the basis for the empirical research we are carrying out in the project. Project researchers are now conducting 15 case studies across 5 policy areas. They also engage in comparative analysis.
During the first year, we have also established the project in terms of its online presence (website, social media, identity). We have furthermore set up a network of external experts who provide their insights on global governance to project researchers. As such, the project is working to develop a epistemic network of global governance experts around the world.
To test, refine, and develop the framework, we sought input from other researchers as well as ENSURED’s advisory board and civil society. Our aim is to introduce new concepts and theories that enrich understandings of global governance in academic debates and across different thematic areas. Finally, we have explored different scenarios for how global governance will likely develop and how it could be transformed considering the beliefs, interests, and strategies of major international actors. This conceptual framework forms the basis for the empirical research we are carrying out in the project. Project researchers are now conducting 15 case studies across 5 policy areas. They also engage in comparative analysis.
During the first year, we have also established the project in terms of its online presence (website, social media, identity). We have furthermore set up a network of external experts who provide their insights on global governance to project researchers. As such, the project is working to develop a epistemic network of global governance experts around the world.
During the initial phase of the project we have not yet achieved results beyond the state of the art.