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Global Challenges
Issue no. 7 | April 2020
Global Governance in Peril?
Global Governance in Peril? | Article 5

Beyond Multilateralism: The Pauli Principle

Reading time: 4 min
The arrival of Donald Trump at the White House is commonly considered to have opened the way to a generalised assault on multilateral agreements and institutions, from the nuclear deal with Iran, the Paris Agreement on climate change, various trade accords, and restrictions on the use of land mines, to the United Nations, the World Trade Organization (WTO), and UNESCO. Given the impending US presidential election, the question that obviously arises is whether this pattern will continue or, instead, be reversed.  

There is no doubt that Trump has been overtly hostile to numerous agreements, as well as to various institutions. Whether this hostility is greater than that of preceding presidents, who in their turn withdrew from some institutions, defunded others, and “unsigned”, scrapped, or let die different agreements, is debatable, even if Trump’s tone is considerably more caustic than that of his predecessors.

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However, establishing a scorecard about which US presidential administration has been the most hostile to multilateralism presupposes something that is less than clear, namely that the world has, in important ways, become multilateral, sufficiently so that the United States might do considerable harm to that multilateral world. My argument is that such a presupposition is at best dubious, and at worst the opposite of what is really going on.

multilateralism: an UNCLEaR concept

When, in 1992, the international relations scholar John Ruggie edited a special issue of International Organization on multilateralism, contributing an often-cited essay of his own to the topic, he laid out two meanings of the term. One, proposed by his colleague Robert Keohane, was relational: “the practice of coordinating national policies in groups of three or more states”; the other, his preferred alternative, added an additional condition: “an institutional form that coordinates relations among three or more states on the basis of generalized principles of conduct: that is, principles which specify appropriate conduct for a class of actions, without regard to the particularistic interests of the parties or the strategic exigencies that may exist in any specific occurrence” (italics added).

There are several things that can be noted about this pair of definitions. The first is that they are extremely difficult to use as criteria for judging whether any particular institution or agreement should be classified as multilateralist. If state A sets up a traveller inspection arrangement, whether aimed at terrorists or viruses, if state B then adopts most of those measures, while revising some of them, and if state C makes additional modifications, to which A and B respond by amending their original procedures, is this coordination by a group of three states? I assume not, that both Keohane and Ruggie have in mind a forum in which A, B, and C would hash out the rules together; but it’s unclear why this latter is any more coordinative, or has any greater policy significance, than the former.

However, coordination is much easier to assess than “generalized principles of conduct”, not only because human beings are skilled at dreaming up such principles as a cover for pursuing their own interests but because it’s difficult to be sure what a state’s motivations are for the actions it undertakes. For example, when the US pushed most favoured nation in trade, one of Ruggie’s key principles of multilateralism, was this because it was a generalised principle of conduct or because, believing that trade disputes could lead to wars, US leaders were determined not to get dragged into a third European war several decades down the road? Even more problematically, if there are two or more different principles that could be cited as a basis for coordination, how are we to choose? Did NATO allies’ participation in the 1991 Gulf War reflect a norm of nonaggression, or of collective self-defence?

Second, all three of Ruggie’s prime examples of multilateralism – the Bretton Woods agreements, the United Nations Charter, and the North Atlantic Treaty – are hardly as multilateral as he claims. Two of the three Bretton Woods-inspired institutions are located in Washington, one which has been headed continuously by US citizens, the other of which has a weighted voting scheme in which the US has a de facto veto. Add to this the formal veto power in the Security Council, and the clear deference in NATO, and it is evident that a more accurate label for these arrangements would be “the United States and the others”. Certainly those others are consulted, certainly they play a role, and certainly the principles they espouse are very much along the lines of the multilateralist language favoured by US elites since the end of World War II; but a more accurate term (one flirted with by Ruggie in other writings) is one drawn not from Latin, but from ancient Greek politics, namely “hegemony”.

An exclusive focus on states

Eppur si muove. The third and final point about the formal definitions of multilateralism is that they are resolutely focused on coordinated policies by states. What they ignore is the point of those policies, namely actions by both state employees and by others.

Bretton Woods Conference, 1944: Harry Dexter White (left), US representative, and John Maynard Keynes (right), for the UK.
AFP

Consider, once again, Bretton Woods. One of the major issues between Keynes and White was whether having a colonial empire meant that exporters and importers from other parts of the world would be locked out. The agreements, by answering no to that question, made it possible for a business in country A to sell to another business in B, with the income from that sale being used to invest in C, who might in turn buy from D. Notice that states play little role in these interactions.

Similarly, the establishment of the WHO and the professionalisation of biomedical research and epidemiology in laboratories and universities around the world has meant that epidemics can be addressed by thousands of actors, only some of whom are state employees. In other words, the point of the most celebrated instances of multilateralism is to unlock the gates that stand in the way of cross-border transactions. To focus on multilateralism by looking primarily at states is akin to talking about elections by concentrating on the people who write and administer the rules, rather than on the parties or the candidates or the voters.

I cite the epidemics example because it illustrates an implication of the problems with the Ruggie definition of multilateralism. Certainly Trump would like to diminish, or at least re-equilibrate, many day-to-day interactions, whether those involve movements of persons or goods, and his preferred method of achieving those results is a set of bilateral deals with other states. On the other hand, the fundamentally multidirectional, nondyadic nature of those movements is not really at issue and, if anything, has increased in certain domains just in the last few years.

The implication of these remarks is that we need to start analysing many institutions and agreements in terms of day-to-day content, rather than which states were involved and how they interacted. To do so otherwise, I fear, would open us to Wolfgang Pauli’s celebrated putdown of a scientific paper: “It is not even wrong.”

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Main US withdrawals from global multilateral forums in the Trump era

  • UN Human Rights Council, February 2020
  • Paris Climate Agreement,November 2019
  • United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East(UNRWA), September 2018
  • Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action(Iran nuclear deal), May 2018
  • United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO),October 2017
  • TransPacific Partnership (free-trade agreement), January 2017

Other major US anti-multilateralist moves since January 2017

  • Refusal to renew key positions in the World Trade Organization (WTO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. For example, since December 2019 the WTO Appellate Body is paralysed due to US blocking the appointment of judges
  • Renegotiation,in 2017–18, of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to reduce US trade deficit. NAFTA is now the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), a name in which Free Trade” no longer appears.
  • At the G7 meeting in June 2018, Trump considers the WTO, the European Union (EU)and NATO as his three enemies.
  • No US ambassador to the United Nations in Genevafor two and a half years, until the appointment of Andrew Bremberg in October 2019.

Compiled by Marc Galvin

China’ increasing presence in the United Nations system

  • 2020–21: China preparesits candidates for following leadership positions: the International Labour Organisation (ILO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), World Tourism Organisation (WTO), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and UNIDO.
  • 2020: China becomes the third contributor to the UNand the first to UNESCO
  • March 2020: Wang Binying, China’s very serious candidate for the leadership of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), is not nominated after an alliance between the US and the UE
  • 2019: Qu Dongyu nominated DirectorGeneral of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
  • 2018: Houlin Zhao nominated for a second consecutive term as Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
  • 2018: Fang Liu nominated for a second consecutive term as Secretary General of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)
  • 2017: Li Yongnominated for a second consecutive term as Director General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)

Compiled by Marc Galvin

Created with Highcharts 9.2.2Zoom in+Zoom out-The growing fragmentation of global governance
Points represent headquarters cities.
Key dates
1960 1995 2020

Map based on the data from The Correlates of War Project, “Intergovernmental Organizations (v3)” (for FIGOs) and from Olivier Westerwinter, “Transnational Public-Private Governance Initiatives in World Politics: Introducing a New Dataset” and its electronic supplementary material, in The Review of International Organizations, 2019 (for TGIs).
The data was enriched by the Graduate Institute’s Research Office in Geneva, in collaboration with whybe.ch.

Image: © UN.
The texts of the timeline are mainly based on the websites of the organisations concerned, the European Commission, Investopedia and Wikipedia.

The construction of multilateralism

Multilateralism is a mode of collaboration between states that has characterised the second half of the 20th century. Through a non-exhaustive selection of main events and dates, this timeline retraces the major stages of its construction.

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700 BCE — 200 BCE

Amphictyonic Leagues

Multilateralism may be traced back to Antiquity, most notably Ancient Greece. Amphictyonic Leagues were alliances of Greek tribes that emerged well before the creation of the first city-states. They focused on collectively managing and protecting shrines such as the one of Demeter and later the one of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. These alliances eventually evolved to become more political in nature.

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1648

Westphalian treaties

The peace agreements ending the Thirty Years’ War in 1648 are frequently described as the moment of birth of the modern state system. A major diplomatic effort including more than 190 European delegations, the Westphalian treaties attenuated the importance of legal vestiges of hierarchy – such as the prerogatives of the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor – and consolidated the notion of sovereignty and equality between states. As such, they created the necessary conditions for the emergence of multilateralism.

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1815

Vienna Congress

The Congress of Vienna of 1815 was a meeting of ambassadors chaired by Austrian statesman Klemens von Metternich. It aimed to restore the balance of power and the principle of dynastic legitimacy after the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The Congress initiated the “Concert of Europe”, an informal system of limited cooperation designed to maintain order in Europe and resolve issues peacefully – even though at the price of suppressing change and liberal aspirations. Ultimately, it prepared the ground for the major international congresses of the second half of the 19th century.

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1865

International Telegraph Union

The first international organisations were often called “bureaus” or “international unions”. The oldest among them, the International Telegraph Union, set standards between countries and assisted them in developing their own telecommunication systems. Today called the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), it has become a specialised agency of the United Nations supporting universal access to technology through the sustainable growth of telecommunications networks, including satellites, mobile phones and the Internet.

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1884 — 1885

Berlin Conference

Called for by German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the Berlin conference attempted to regulate the “Scramble for Africa”. It aimed to harness political and commercial antagonism between the European powers over the colonisation of Africa while accommodating the imperial ambitions of the newly formed German state. It remains infamously remembered as having arbitrarily parcelled out African territories by drawing artificial borders on a five-meter-tall map. It eventually led to the colonisation of all of Africa except Ethiopia and Liberia.

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1899 — 1907

Hague peace conferences

The Hague Conferences of 1899 and 1907 were a series of international treaties and declarations aiming to regulate the conduct of warfare on land and on the sea. They established the Permanent Court of Arbitration, defined prisoner-of-war treatment, and wartime neutrality. Along with the Geneva Conventions, the Hague Conventions significantly contributed to the definition of war crimes and the protection of civilians in times of conflict. The Hague treaties were also the first to include American and Asian countries, marking the ushering of a new era of major international conferences.

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1919

International Labour Organization (ILO)

The ILO was founded in 1919, its Constitution forming part of the Treaty of Versailles. It is one of the oldest UN institutions and the first international organisation to have its headquarters in Geneva. The only tripartite UN agency, the ILO brings together government, employer and worker representatives from 187 member states. Its primary mission is to conceive and monitor international labour standards fostering decent and productive work in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity.

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1920

League of Nations

The League of Nations was created at the initiative of the victorious Allied powers at the end of World War I. It was the first intergovernmental organisation aiming to foster world peace and cooperation among states through collective security, disarmament and the peaceful settlement of disputes through negotiation. The broad multilateral framework of the League included commissions on health, labour, mandates, refugees, slavery and drug trafficking. However, despite the efforts of US President Woodrow Wilson, the United States never became a member and the League ultimately failed to prevent the Axis Powers’ wars of aggression in the 1930s.

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1930

Bank of International Settlements

Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, the BIS was created in 1930 by an intergovernmental agreement between Germany, Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, the United States, and Switzerland. The oldest of global financial institutions, it was originally designed to facilitate reparations imposed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles. The BIS constitutes a forum for international monetary cooperation aiming to improve the predictability and transparency of monetary policies. It also serves as a bank for its 60 member central banks.

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1944

Bretton Woods Agreement

At the end of WWII, the Bretton Woods Agreement set up a new global monetary architecture replacing the gold standard with the US dollar as global currency. The Agreement gave birth to two major institutions: the International Monetary Fund (IMF), monitoring exchange rates and bailing out nations, and the World Bank, lending financial support first to the reconstruction of European countries and later to development projects in emerging countries. While the Bretton Woods system was dissolved in the 1970s when the US stopped exchanging gold for US dollars under President Nixon, both the IMF and World Bank remain strong pillars of today’s international monetary system.

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1945

United Nations (UN)

The United Nations (UN) is a global diplomatic and political organisation that was established in June 1945 as a successor to the League of Nations. It promotes international peace and security, sustainable development and global health. It delivers humanitarian aid and assistance to refugees, protects human rights and upholds international law, environmental and labour standards. It operates through five organs: the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) – including 15 specialised agencies – , the International Court of Justice and the UN Secretariat. It is the largest and most influential institution of global governance.

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1945

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

Founded in 1945, the FAO is a specialised agency of the United Nations based in Rome, Italy. Its mission is to defeat hunger and improve nutrition and food security. It assists its member countries in modernising and improving agriculture, forestry, and fisheries practices to ensure people’s regular access to high-quality food. The FAO promotes the sustainable management and utilisation of natural resources, including land, water, air, climate and genetic resources.

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1946

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

UNESCO is an agency created in 1946 by the United Nations with the objective of building peace through international collaboration in education, sciences, and culture. Based in Paris its initial emphasis was on rebuilding schools, libraries, and museums destroyed in Europe during World War II. Today the agency supports projects fostering research and education, combating racism and intolerance, as well as preserving and spreading knowledge around the world. Its achievements include preserving World Heritage sites and building youth network programmes.

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1946

World Health Organization (WHO)

The WHO is a Geneva-based specialised agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. Founded in 1946, its mission is to improve people’s lives, to reduce the burdens of disease and poverty, and to provide access to responsive health care for all people. It monitors public health risks, sets standards for disease control, coordinates responses to health emergencies, and promotes human health through technical assistance.

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1947

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)

The GATT, signed in Geneva in October 1947 by 23 countries, was a legal agreement designed to boost economic recovery after World War II through a set of multilateral agreements eliminating or reducing quotas, tariffs, and subsidies. Seven major multilateral trade conferences or “rounds” were held from 1947 to 1993 with the aim to work out tariff reductions and other trade-related issues.

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1948

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

The IUCN is a membership union established in 1948 and headquartered in Gland, Switzerland. Composed of states and government agencies, non-governmental organisations, scientists and experts, it focuses on the preservation of the natural world. The IUCN was instrumental in the development of several major international conventions on the conservation of nature, including the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (1971), the World Heritage Convention (1972), the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (1974) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (1992).

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1948

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds and proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris in 1948. It is a milestone document in the history of human rights defining, for the first time, a set of fundamental human rights to be universally protected. Its 30 articles cover civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights. Though not legally binding, it has been integrated into a host of subsequent treaties and national legislations.

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1948

World Meteorological Organization (WMO)

The WMO is the specialised agency of the United Nations for weather, climate and water. Created in 1950, it is headquartered in Geneva. It provides expertise on the Earth’s atmosphere, climate, oceans, and water resources. It fosters the exchange of data to improve forecasts and predictions and provides risk assessments and early warnings for extreme weather and climate events.

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1949

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

NATO is an intergovernmental military alliance established in 1949 between the US and 30 other nations. It adheres to a system of collective defence committing its members to react jointly to an external aggression. Nato’s historical aim was to contain an eventual Soviet attack against Western Europe. Today the alliance counts 30 members and remains the most powerful regional defence alliance worldwide. It is militarily dominated by the United States.

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1950

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

The UNHCR is a United Nations agency established in 1950 by the UN General Assembly and headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. Its mission is to protect and build a better future for refugees, forcibly displaced communities and stateless people. It coordinates international action to safeguard the rights of refugees and it assists with the exertion of asylum rights, voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement.

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1951

International Organization for Migration (IOM)

Established in 1951, the IOM is the leading intergovernmental organisation in the field of migration with 173 member states and offices in over 100 countries. In 2016 the IOM became a related organisation of the United Nations. The IOM provides services and advice to governments and migrants, including internally displaced persons, refugees and migrant workers, and promotes humane and orderly management of migration. The IOM works on four broad issue areas covering migration and development, facilitating migration, regulating migration, and forced migration.

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1957

Treaty of Rome

The Treaty of Rome signed in 1957 between Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany officially established the European Economic Community. While the treaty’s immediate aim was to foster European economic integration, it also laid out, as specified in its objectives, “the foundations of an ever closer union among the people of Europe”. The same year also saw the creation of the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), another precursor treaty that eventually paved the way to the European Union.

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1961

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

The OECD was founded in 1961 with its headquarters in Paris to stimulate economic progress and world trade. It is a forum of countries discussing and developing economic and social policy by comparing policy experiences and exchanging best practices. It also publishes statistics, reports, indicators and forecasts on economic growth and sustainable development. The 36 OECD members are high-income economies committed to democracy and the market economy.

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1963

Organisation of African Unity (OAU)

The OAU was an intergovernmental organisation established by 32 African states in 1963 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Its key aims included encouraging political and economic integration and eradicating colonialism and neocolonialism from the African continent. The OAU was replaced by the African Union (AU) composed of 55 continental member states and officially launched in 2002.

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1964

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

UNCTAD is a permanent intergovernmental body established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1964. Its headquarters are located in Geneva and it has offices in New York and Addis Ababa. UNCTAD’s mission is to formulate policies relating to all aspects of development including trade, aid, transport, finance and technology. It supports developing countries to access the globalised economy more fairly and effectively. It provides analysis, facilitates consensus-building, and offers technical assistance.

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1964

Group of 77 (G77)

The G77 was established in 1964 by 77 developing countries during the first session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Geneva, Switzerland. It aims to promote its members’ collective economic interests and joint negotiating capacity in the United Nations and to facilitate South-South cooperation. G77 today counts 135 members and has liaison offices in Geneva, Nairobi, Paris, Rome, Vienna, and Washington, DC. It has also organised two South Summits: in 2000 in Havana, Cuba, and in 2005 in Doha, Qatar.

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1966

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)

The ICCPR is a key human rights treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1966. It guarantees traditional civil rights and freedoms such as the right to life, freedom of religion, speech and assembly, electoral rights and rights to a fair trial. In combination with the ICESCR, also adopted in 1966, it enacts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 in a binding framework.

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1967

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)

The ASEAN was established in 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. It was later joined by Brunei (1984), Vietnam (1995), Laos and Myanmar (1997), and Cambodia (1999). The ASEAN facilitates cooperation and economic, political, security, military, educational, and sociocultural integration among its member states and in the Asia-Pacific region more generally. Its secretariat is located in Jakarta, Indonesia.

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1968

Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT)

The NPT, which was elaborated in 1968, has been ratified by a total of 191 states, coming close to universal participation. It is a landmark international treaty designed to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, and further nuclear and general disarmament. The NPT is safeguarded by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). It is unique in its cooperative set-up between nuclear and non-nuclear states.

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1970

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

WIPO was set up in 1970 in Geneva, Switzerland, as a specialised agency of the United Nations. It currently counts 193 member states and administers 26 international treaties on industrial property, copyright and related rights. It succeeded the United International Bureaux for the Protection of Intellectual Property established in 1893, pursuing a more complex agenda not only promoting property rights but balancing them against technology transfer, innovation and economic development. In 2007, WIPO formally adopted its Development Agenda to streamline development issues throughout its work.

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1971

World Economic Forum (WEF)

The WEF is a non-governmental organisation founded in Geneva in 1971 to promote public-private cooperation. First named the European Management Forum, its members include some of the world’s largest corporations. The WEF hosts annual meetings in Davos to discuss global economic and political issues which gather CEOs, ambassadors, public figures, media personnel, government officials, religious leaders and union representatives from around the world. The WEF also has offices in New York, Beijing, and Tokyo, and convenes some six to eight additional regional meetings annually.

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1973

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)

CITES is an intergovernmental agreement adopted in 1973 under the impetus of the IUCN and WWF. It aims to ensure that the trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. CITES is one of the largest and oldest agreements in existence on conservation and the sustainable use of natural resources. It currently protects more than 35,000 species of animals and plants.

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1973

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

The UNEP was created in 1973 and is based in Geneva. It exerts overall authority over environmental issues among United Nations agencies and assists developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies. UNEP’s activities focus on the atmosphere, marine and terrestrial ecosystems, and the green economy. It contributes to improve global environmental governance through measurement, advocacy and its flagship programmes in adaptation, forestry, and energy efficiency.

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1975

Group of Seven (G7)

The G7 is an international intergovernmental economic organisation consisting of the seven largest IMF- advanced economies in the world: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States (the European Union is an invitee to G7). It was founded to facilitate shared macroeconomic initiatives by its members in response to the collapse of the exchange rate in 1971, during the time of the Nixon shock, the 1970s energy crisis and the ensuing recession. Since 1975, the G7 meets annually.

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1982

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)

UNCLOS is an international treaty adopted in 1982 and signed by 117 states. It defines how nations may use the world’s oceans, establishing guidelines for businesses, the environment, and the management of marine natural resources. It replaced the four Geneva Conventions of 1958 on the territorial sea, the continental shelf, the high seas, fishing and conservation. UNCLOS also led to the creation of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, the International Seabed Authority, and the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.

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1987

Montreal Protocol

The Montreal Protocol is a multilateral environmental agreement to protect the stratospheric ozone layer by phasing out the production and consumption of ozone-depleting substances (ODSs). All United Nations member countries have signed the Montreal Protocol, adopting binding obligations to gradually eliminate ODSs used in refrigeration and air conditioning, foam blowing, aerosols, solvents and other applications. The Montreal Protocol is frequently described as one of the most successful multilateral agreements.

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1991

Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR)

MERCOSUR is a South American trade bloc and regional integration process established by the Treaty of Asunción in 1991 and the Protocol of Ouro Preto in 1994. Full members are Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay – with Venezuela currently suspended – and associate members Bolivia (full membership pending), Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru and Suriname. MERCOSUR’s mission is the promotion of a common space of free trade, investment and the movement of goods, people, and currency.

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1992

UN Conference on Environment and Development (Earth Summit)

The UN Conference on Environment and Development, also known as the Earth Summit, was held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The first major international conference on global environmental issues since the 1972 UN meeting in Stockholm, it focused on pollution through toxic components, alternative sources of energy, new public transportation systems, air pollution and water scarcity. The conference introduced the novel concept of sustainable development and the action programme Agenda 21. It further adopted the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the UN Forest Declaration, and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification.

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1994

World Trade Organization (WTO)

The WTO is an intergovernmental organisation regulating international trade in goods, services and intellectual property. Established by an agreement signed in Marrakesh in 1994, it is based in Geneva. The WTO provides a framework for negotiating trade agreements and mechanisms for monitoring and implementing them. It also offers a technical assistance programme for developing countries and litigation through its dispute resolution mechanisms. With 164 member countries in 2019 it is the largest international economic organisation in the world.

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1996

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)

The SCO is a Eurasian political, economic and security alliance created in 2001 between China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan joined the SCO in 2017. The SCO is primarily concerned with security-related issues, notably terrorism, separatism and extremism. It also promotes regional economic initiatives such as the Silk Road Economic Belt and the Eurasian Economic Union.

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1996

Arctic Council

Formally established in 1996 by the Ottawa Declaration, the Arctic Council is a high-level intergovernmental forum promoting cooperation and coordination among the Arctic states and Arctic indigenous communities. It addresses shared issues such as sustainable development and environmental protection in the Arctic through measurements and conservation measures. The eight countries with sovereignty rights in the Arctic Circle composing the Arctic Council include Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the United States.

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1997

Kyoto Protocol

The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty extending the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It was adopted in 1997 but entered into force only in 2005. It commits its current 192 state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emission according to individual targets. The emissions-trading scheme allows countries that have excess emission units to spare to sell them to countries which are above their targets. A second commitment period was adopted in 2012 through the Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol, but it has not yet entered into force.

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1998

International Criminal Court (ICC)

The ICC is the international tribunal established by the 1998 Rome Statute, with its seat in The Hague, Netherlands. It began its operations in 2002 and currently counts 123 member states. The mission of the ICC is to prosecute individuals for international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. The ICC’s overarching aim is to end impunity. As a court of last resort its complements rather than replaces existing national jurisdictions.

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1999

Group of Twenty (G20)

The G20 is an international forum of the world’s largest economies, including those of many developing nations, founded in 1999. It aims to foster international economic growth and cooperation as well as financial stability. Recent agenda items at the G20 have included cryptocurrency, food security, and trade wars. Not being a legislative body, the G20 agreements and decisions are non-binding but exert a major influence on global governance. Together, G20 members account for 90% of global GDP, 80% of world trade and two-thirds of the world population.

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2000

Millennium Summit

The Millennium Summit was the largest ever meeting of world leaders. It took place in 2000 at headquarters in New York with the aim of defining the role of the United Nations at the turn of the 21st century. The meeting led to the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to be reached by 2015: reducing poverty and hunger as well as tackling ill-health, gender inequality, lack of education, lack of access to clean water and environmental degradation. The Millennium Summit was followed by the World Summit in 2005.

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2000

United Nations Global Compact

The United Nations Global Compact is a voluntary, non-binding pact to encourage businesses worldwide to adopt sustainable and socially responsible policies. It is the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative with 13,000 corporate participants and other stakeholders. The Global Compact is based on ten principles in the areas of human rights, labour, the environment and anticorruption and supports the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Companies that join the Compact are expected to integrate these principles into their corporate strategies and culture, to advocate them to their stakeholders, and to report on their implementation.

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2000

Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI)

Created in 2000 and based in Geneva, GAVI is a public–private global health partnership aiming to generalise access to new and underused vaccines for children living in the world’s poorest countries. It unites developing country and donor governments, the WHO, UNICEF, the World Bank, and the vaccine industry, research and technical agencies, civil society, as well as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private philanthropists in a shared effort to saving children’s lives and protecting people’s health through improved access to vaccines.

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2002

Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund)

The Global Fund is an international financing and partnership organisation established in Geneva in 2002. It aims to end HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria through investing more than USD 4 billion a year in programmes in over 100 low- and middle-income countries. The fund brings together developed countries, developing countries, the private sector, civil society and affected communities through an innovative financing mechanism that seeks to rapidly raise and disburse funding. It now provides 20% of global funding for HIV/AIDS, and 66% of the funding for tuberculosis and malaria.

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2003

Kimberley Process

Launched in 2003, the Kimberley Process is a coalition of governments, civil society and the diamond industry to eliminate the trade in so-called conflict diamonds. It was initiated by United Nations General Assembly Resolution 55/56 aimed at preventing the trade in conflict diamonds and curbing the financing of rebel movements. It resulted in the creation of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme defining the requirements for controlling rough diamond production and trade. The Kimberley Process has 55 participants, representing 82 countries and covering more than 99% of the global rough diamond production and trade.

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2006

United Nations Human Rights Council (HCR)

The HCR is a Geneva-based UN body whose mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world. The Council was created in 2006 in replacement of the former UN Commission on Human Rights. It is made up of 47 UN member states elected for three years by the UN General Assembly on a regional group basis. The HRC investigates breaches of human rights in UN member states, and addresses human rights issues in general, women's rights, LGBT rights, and the rights of racial and ethnic minorities.Its mechanisms include the appointment of special rapporteurs and the Universal Periodic Review (UPR).

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2014

Compact of Mayors

The Compact of Mayors was launched at the initiative of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the UN Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change. It is a shared effort from global city networks such as the Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40), Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI), and the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) to address climate change together with UN-Habitat. 428 global cities have thus committed to set targets to reduce GHG emissions and consistently and transparently report on them.

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2015

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

TheSDGs were adopted by all United Nations member states in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure peace and prosperity by 2030. The 17 SDGs are integrated, acknowledging that action in one area will affect outcomes in others, and that development must be balanced with social, economic and environmental considerations. Each goal has separate targets measurable through indicators which can be easily understood, tracked and visualised. Countries have also committed to fast-track progress for those furthest behind first, in order to achieve several ambitious “zero” objectives including zero poverty, hunger, AIDS and discrimination against women and girls.

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2015

Paris Agreement

The Paris Agreement was reached in 2016 within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), addressing greenhouse-gas-emissions mitigation, adaptation, and finance. It aims to keep global warming to well below 2°C (3.6°F) – and make every effort to go above 1.5°C (2.7°F). The Agreement imposes a legally binding obligation on all states to submit a nationally determined contribution every five years. It largely eliminates the previous distinction between industrialised and developing countries.

 
Amphictyonic Leagues
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Amphictyonic Leagues

Westphalian treaties

Vienna Congress

International Telegraph Union

Berlin Conference

Hague peace conferences

International Labour Organization (ILO)

League of Nations

Bank of International Settlements

Bretton Woods Agreement

United Nations (UN)

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

World Health Organization (WHO)

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)

World Meteorological Organization (WMO)

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

International Organization for Migration (IOM)

Treaty of Rome

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

Organisation of African Unity (OAU)

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

Group of 77 (G77)

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)

Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT)

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

World Economic Forum (WEF)

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Group of Seven (G7)

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)

Montreal Protocol

Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR)

UN Conference on Environment and Development (Earth Summit)

World Trade Organization (WTO)

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)

Arctic Council

Kyoto Protocol

International Criminal Court (ICC)

Group of Twenty (G20)

Millennium Summit

United Nations Global Compact

Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI)

Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund)

Kimberley Process

United Nations Human Rights Council (HCR)

Compact of Mayors

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Paris Agreement

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VIDEO | Beatrice Weder di Mauro on the Davos Forum

© The Graduate Institute, Geneva

VIDEO | Nico Krisch on the hierarchy of norms

© The Graduate Institute, Geneva

VIDEO | Stephanie Hofmann and Erna Burai on the evolution of multilateralism

© The Graduate Institute, Geneva.

GRAPH | Overall compliance of G20 member states with 130 summit commitments from 2008 to 2013

Created with Highcharts 9.2.2From 0 to 1Average overall compliance (0 = partial compliance; 1 = complete or near complete compliance)AverageArgentinaAustraliaBrazilCanadaChinaFranceGermanyIndiaIndonesiaItalyJapanKoreaMexicoRussiaSaudi ArabiaSouth AfricaUnited KingdomUnited StatesEuropean Union00.10.20.30.40.50.60.7

BOX | 633 transnational governance initiatives (TGIs) classified by issue area

Environment, Agriculture, Food
  • Environment: 243 TGIs, 38,4%
  • Climate change: 145 TGIs, 22,9%
  • Food and agriculture: 115 TGIs, 18,2%
  • Energy: 106 TGIs, 16,7%
Finance, development
  • Development: 236 TGIs, 37,3%
  • Bank and finance: 25 TGIs, 3,9%
  • Regional development: 9 TGIs, 1,4%
  • Monetary policy: 1 TGI, 0,2%
Health, society, science, education, culture
  • Health: 163 TGIs, 25,8%
  • Society: 132 TGIs, 20,9%
  • Women: 63 TGIs, 10%
  • Science and technology: 60 TGIs, 9,5%
  • Technical: 44 TGIs, 0.07%
  • Labour: 38 TGIs, 6%
  • Education: 34 TGIs, 5,4%
  • Culture: 19 TGIs, 3%
Trade, exchange
  • Commerce: 90 TGIs, 14,2%
  • Trade: 45 TGIs, 7,1%
  • Transport: 35 TGIs, 5,5%
  • Tourism: 19 TGIs, 3%
Human rights and migration
  • Human rights: 74 TGIs, 11,7%
  • Migration: 6 TGIs, 0,9%
Peace and Security
  • Crime: 19 TGIs, 3%
  • Peace and stability: 15 TGIs, 2,4%
  • Soft security: 10 TGIs, 1,6%
  • Conflict: 8 TGIs, 1,3%
  • Defence: 6 TGIs, 0,9%
  • Private security: 3 TGIs, 0,5%
  • Nuclear proliferation: 3 TGIs, 0,5%
  • Counterterrorism: 1 TGI, 0,2%
Other
  • Communication: 28 TGIs, 4,4%
  • Transparency: 25 TGIs, 3,9%
  • Legal: 22 TGIs, 3,5%

Source: Olivier Westerwinter, “Online Appendix for ‛Transnational Public-Private Governance Initiatives in World Politics: Introducing a New Dataset’”, 30 July 2019, available on https://doi.org/10.1007/s11558-019-09366-w.