Global Law and Global Governance: The UN's Role in Filling Gaps

Abstract

This chapter makes a case for global governance, i.e. collective problem-solving arrangements for challenges and threats that are beyond the capacity of a single state to address. It begins by examining the notion of global governance before parsing five “gaps” (knowledge, normative, policy, institutional, and compliance) in contemporary global governance that are the most insightful way to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the UN's past, present, and future roles. It then discusses the 2004 tsunami and global climate change to illustrate how this analytical lens works when examining a specific event and an issue-area. Show more