Global Governance Enterprises

Creating Multisector Collaborations

John Forrer

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• eBook ISBN: 9781317607618
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

Global Governance Enterprises focuses on a specific multi-sector collaboration—the formation of an entity that carries out global governance—providing a detailed analysis of the context of their emergence, as well as how they are created, managed, and sustained.

Forrer considers the growing challenges to successful global governance and the role of multi-sector collaborations in overcoming these challenges, arguing that such partnerships should be considered successful only when they meet specific conditions that ensure they are "doing well" and "doing good." By establishing a coherent framework to define global governance enterprises across a wide span of sectors, the book develops a strong theoretical foundation for this type of partnership and provides the reader with an understanding of the practical, operational realities of organizing, financing, and sustaining global governance enterprises. It includes a full section of case studies, ranging from healthcare to environmental organizations, providing practical insight into this form of governance and its function.

This book should be on the shelf of any professional or student interested in global governance, public–private partnerships, or public management.

PART I

Globalization and the Emergence of Global Governance Enterprises

OVERVIEW

A principal theme of this section reveals a paradox: as global problems become more vexing and threatening due to globalization, our global governance capacity to solve them is diminishing rapidly. This fading capability of global governance is due in part to globalization itself. The world is transforming in ways that outstrip the experiences and, in some cases, the time to grasp and react to these changes. The rapid pace of globalization has accentuated our modern governance gap to the point where long-standing global governance approaches to solving problems seem less relevant to the global problems and crises we hear about every day. Whether it is in the areas of combating terrorist organizations, preventing human trafficking, fostering development in poor communities, responding to pandemics such as Ebola, Zika, or flus, relief and recovery efforts in the aftermath of natural disasters, curtailing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, preserving tropical rainforests, etc., global events seem to be happening quicker, on a larger scale, and with more profound implications—and sometimes larger unintended consequences—than we can comprehend.

If we are to formulate and become comfortable with approaches to global governance that are more effective and purposeful, they must be grounded in an understanding of the transformative nature of globalization and why it has rendered the familiar approaches to global policy and global governance not only less consequential, but less relevant. Turning away from the conventions of our contemporary practice of global governance to an approach that celebrates partnerships, collaboration, and network governance opens up unforeseen opportunities for social innovations that help solve global problems.

If global governance enterprises (GGEs) are to be accepted as a desirable approach to global governance, we need to explain how democratic accountability will still be respected. What roles do business and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) play in these new arrangements? Where are limits set on business influence in the formulation and execution of global policy and global governance? How do we measure success? How is it possible to have global governance initiatives of billions of dollars spent on social problems with limited government involvement? How do the real differences between the public values we advance through collective actions led by government agencies and the pursuit of profits by business that trumps everything else in the bottom-line be reconciled?

One nagging concern about the expansion of multisector collaborations that have emerged to fill a yawning global governance gap is the “corporatization of society.” As businesses, and particularly large multinational corporations (MNCs), become more involved in global governance, will public values be eroded at the expense of private sector values? Will pursuit of profits and responsiveness to shareholders demanding market-rate return-on-investment dominate the design and delivery of public goods and services? Countervailing these concerns is the prospect that engaging business more closely in helping to solve global problems could advance the “socializing of the corporation.” MNCs have adopted corporate social responsibility policies and activities addressing sustainability, human rights, and ethical practices in response to stakeholders who want corporations to take greater account of their impact on society. As multisector collaboration takes on activities that supplement and sometimes supplant government operations, it is critical that these global governance arrangements be held accountable for their actions—no less than would be wanted for government.

These are important challenges that are addressed in Chapter 3. Before that, it is important to describe the emergent forms of multisector collaboration that have grown in popularity so quickly. It is critical that we understand why these new forms of governance have emerged, and the logical basis for accepting them as proper forms of governance is discussed in Chapter 2. Prior to fully understanding the popularity of multisector governance, it is important to comprehend why our conventional approach to global policy and global governance have become less effective and how urgent is the need to develop new approaches to governance.

Multisector collaboration in general—and GGEs in particular—offer a bold and exciting new approach to global governance. They are born out of an awareness that globalization is transforming our markets, institutions, engagements, ideas, judgments, and a need for adapting to and harnessing this change. It leverages resources, shared interests, and a recognition of the growing interdependencies that globalization has wrought. Understanding how globalization is changing the world and making current practices less potent is addressed in Chapter 1.

Persuading potential partners that GGEs are an attractive global governance approach means convincing people who are largely unfamiliar with such a collaborative approach. Making a convincing case on behalf of GGEs requires an understanding of why they have been created and how to justify their positioning in the global governance landscape to those who are familiar with conventions and hesitate to embrace such an untested and implausible approach—at least when viewed through the lens of traditional governance.

1

GLOBALIZATION AND GLOBAL PROBLEMS

Globalization has changed everything. It has propelled us into a world of rapid change and transformation. We are used to generation gaps and the emergence of new ideas and practices that shake-up established norms by a younger generation. Globalization is changing our world so rapidly, it seems there is no time for generation gaps; now we only have time for evolving cohort slices of Gen-X, Gen-Y, and Gen-Z parsed by single decades, each with their own particular identities. It appears there simply is not enough time to establish traditions as people are compelled to adapt to a world in constant change.

In the short span of a few decades, so many markets, institutions, norms, trends, and identities bear little resemblance to what they looked like in the past. Our markets and global supply chains are so dense and intertwined that sea scallops caught off the coast of France are flown to China to be processed and then sent back for sale in Paris in ready-to-prepare meal packs. Approximately 17 million people fly on commercial airlines every day (3.1 billion a year), more than double the number in 2000 (International Air Transport Association, 2013). Starbucks has 21,000 stores in over 65 countries; in 1987, it had 17 stores (Starbucks, n.d.). Airbnb, founded in 2008, is now the largest lodging company in the world with over 1,500,000 listings in 34,000 cities and 190 countries and yet it owns zero properties (Airbnb, n.d.). In August 1991, there was one website and now there are over 1 billion (Internet Live Stats, n.d.). There are more mobile phones on the planet than people (7.68 billion) (Shontell, 2011). The first text was sent in 1992 (it read “Happy Birthday”). Today, 23 billion texts are sent every day (Tumbleson, 2015). Seasonality in foods is dwindling, with an array of fruits and vegetables available year round. The Blue Revolution means globally, aquaculture supplies more than 50 percent of all seafood produced for human consumption (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, n.d.). Just 1 percent of the world’s population owns over 50 percent of all the world’s wealth (Bentley, 2015).

These examples are just a speck of how globalization has changed the planet and its people. Globalization does not present itself evenly across the globe. At one end of the spectrum globalization has fostered global “cosmopolitans” who live in the major cities around the world. They share a similar world view and experiences: flying to similar destinations, watching the same movies, reading the same news reports, shopping at the same websites and stores, drinking the same wines, and making similarly large salaries. These global cosmopolitans have much more in common with each other than the citizens of their own countries. At the other extreme are a few communities who have experienced little of the changes brought about by globalization, living their traditional lives as did their parents and their parents before them.

The majority of the world’s population lives in state of flux that is a strange globalization cocktail: a mix of modern and traditional social, economic, and political realities that are in a constant state of conflict, confluence, and reconfiguration. The mixtures are different all around the world, but the reason for this state of mutability is the same for all: globalization. The most obvious manifestations of globalization—such as those cited above—are just the expressions and representations of a turbulence that globalization has brought about: not as a one-time event that helps segue history from one era to another; globalization is remarkable by its constancy of fostering ever more rapid and dramatic change, which itself creates the conditions which are disposed to changing again, with no end in sight for this globalizing swirl.

One consequence is globalization has exposed communities to global threats as never before. Global pandemic episodes such as avian flu, Ebola, and the Zika virus spread through global travel and transportation networks with little advanced warning or predictability. The disintegration of the Soviet Union suggested a reprieve from the threat of a future World War III, only to be replaced by global terrorist acts and the growing eruption of more violent conflicts around the world. Global financial crises have wiped out trillions of dollars in value and peoples’ savings in a matter of only a few days. Fossil-fuel energy systems supporting worldwide growth have spewed sufficient carbon emissions into the atmosphere to escalate global climate change concerns about ever more imminent rising ocean levels and ocean acidification.

The need to do a better job at solving global problems is obvious and needs to be expedited. The frustrations many feel with our inability to adequately respond to our most challenging global problems is matched by the enthusiasm many feel for employing a new, multisector, collaborative approach to global governance. The potential for collaborative global governance to unleash the full value of social innovation created through partnerships is tantalizing. However, it is critical to recognize that both sensibilities are deeply rooted in globalization. Having a clear view of what globalization is about, how it is transforming our world, and its implications for global policy and global governance are prerequisites for establishing support for collaborative global governance and creating new approaches that work.

We increasingly recognize how the world is being bound together in a global community and, at the same time, more torn and threatened by war and violence, resulting in destruction and displacement of communities. The current migration crisis involving Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and the European Union (EU) exemplifies the porosity of borders that is a signature trait of globalization. The openness of the borders meant an overwhelming influx of desperate and needy people into EU countries that were ill-prepared to accommodate this migration crisis. The suffering of those dislocated by the wars in Syria and Iraq as well as other conflicts across the MENA region, or those leaving to avoid poverty, desperation, and human insecurity and relocating has been met with compassion, sympathy, and an understanding that these migrants’ suffering was not of their making. At the same time, the violence and despair that is goading such frantic migration was not of the making of those providing shelter. The closing of nations’ borders to immigrants only concentrates the suffering to refugee camps, with no practical global policies adopted about what to do next. It has also inflamed a radical nationalism and a resident and latent ethnic and racial hatred that has engulfed the EU and put it in such a tumult as to threaten the EU’s cohesion and future.

Our abilities to cope with the rapid changes globalization has introduced into people’s everyday lives and to tackle the significant global problems that it has fostered is predicated on understanding globalization. Effective global policies and global governance require a clear comprehension of what are the forces of globalization, the ways in which these forces are affecting our world, and what actions will be purposeful and impactful when there is a need to bring about real change. However, it is the same rapid transformation of the world that globalization brings about that makes understanding globalization such a struggle.

James Rosenau attempted to capture the paradoxical character of the changes generated by globalization in his book Distant Proximities (2003). Looking back on the early studies of globalization—himself a trailblazer in the field—Rosenau identified three dynamics he believed have been spawned by globalization. He called them: (a) distant proximities, (b) fragmegration, and (c) macro structures. Distant Proximities reflects the view that any event in the world—however remote or insignificant—could be expected to have consequences for people anywhere in the world. Fragmegration refers to two simultaneous forces: the never-ending fragmentation of what exists now and the on-going reintegration that creates new arrangements. Fragmegration occurs on a scale applicable to communities as well as globally. Macro structures suggest that governments and corporations will play a lesser role in shaping history, eclipsed by the actions of individuals who will have greater influence.

These are broad, sweeping claims and there are exceptions and relative degrees of applicability to be expected. They set out the new ways of thinking about how globalization has changed some of the most fundamental ideas upon which conventional approaches to designing global policy and implementing global governance have been based. Distant Proximities proposed that the traditional focus on government and multinational corporations (MNCs) to explain how power and wealth are created and distributed in society is misdirected. Efforts to preserve familiar global governance institutions through reform and re-missioning are misguided. Shaping and framing global policy and global governance through bounded rationality and respect for borders and boundaries—geographic, political, or conceptual—is fruitless.

The only rational way we can formulate purposeful and impactful approaches to global policy and global governance is to accept “the globalization of all things.” This means that at any point in time, the understanding we gained from studying and experiencing the past has limited value for addressing global problems today. The changes brought about by globalization are not incremental adjustments to accepted ideas and practices. They are a radical transformation of global realities that have rendered our current ideas about global problems and what we might do to solve them, inapplicable and, therefore, ineffective. Looking forward, good global governance requires the creation of a new set of global governance standards and approaches that stay aligned with the new realities that are constantly being reinvented by globalization. The first step to accomplishing this goal is to understand globalization.

Globalization Emergent

Views of globalization have been contested and controversial ever since the concept was first popularized. Its origins are contested as well. In one version, according to the Oxford Dictionary, the word globalization was first employed in the 1930s. It entered the Merriam-Webster Dictionary in 1951. However, it was not widely used by economists until the late 1980s. It was a convenient way to think of events as being on a worldwide scale, reflecting awareness of the planetary scale and scope of specific issues.

Rosenau’s (2003) characterization of globalization has given the word a far more sophisticated and profound meaning than its more humble origins. A more robust conception of globalization views the world changing in fundamental ways—not just markets and trade (what some refer to as economic globalization)—but culture, travel, identity, knowledge, and technology. These changes are occurring at unprecedented levels of scale, intensity, and speed. The consequences of these changes are pro...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Praise
• Global Governance Enterprises
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Part I Globalization and the Emergence of Global Governance Enterprises
• Part II Profiles of Global Governance Enterprises
• Part III Building Global Governance Enterprises
• References
• Index