Public policymaking is no longer an internal matter for states. Due to globalization, action and inaction in one place affect the ability to implement rules and achieve desirable policy outcomes elsewhere. Public policy at the national level, therefore, increasingly depends on the use of international instruments, like international diplomacy and agreements, to make mutually beneficial—but politically difficult—adjustments to policy. Today, it also encompasses a growing range of actors, including supranational organizations, cities, multinational corporations and a vast array of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). These actors are forging new kinds of relationships and, increasingly, joining together to form complex governance arrangements to address global challenges. These new varieties of governance—from the European Union and the G20 to ICANN and the UN Global Compact, among many others—have been of considerable interest to both scholars and policymakers. For scholars, the key questions concern how we can conceptualize and explain these new forms of governance. Why do they arise? What shapes do they take? And how do these new governance arrangements work and evolve? For policymakers, the key questions focus on their impacts, accountability, and future prospects. Some believe these new modes of governance hold much promise. By widening the circle of decision-makers and leveraging the unique resources and capabilities of different actors, new cross-border arrangements offers a more accountable and effective way of solving public problems. At the same time, others have cast these developments in a more negative light, arguing that they undermine effective problem-solving and serve the interests of a powerful few.

Given its growing importance, it is essential for us to deepen our understanding of the issues surrounding new approaches to global public policymaking. This course aims to do this by first conceptualizing the new tools of cooperation that have been appearing, comparing and contrasting them with past practices of international cooperation. Second, the course will develop a basic theoretical toolkit that can be used to explore the global public policymaking process and patterns of participation by state and non-state actors. In the third part, we break the key instruments of global policy down into their component parts, focusing on supranational institutions, transgovernmental networks, public-private partnerships, and private governance arrangements. In this part of the course, we evaluate their key features, capabilities, and policymaking track record vis-à-vis the problems they are ostensibly created to address. In the fourth part of the course, we look at the how these different cross-border arrangements interact with one another, investigating processes of conflict, cooperation and change, which shape how global policymaking plays out in practice. Finally, we consider broader issues related to compliance and effectiveness, and legitimacy and accountability. This section of the course consolidates what we have learned and opens a discussion about the future of global policy.

Assessment

• Class Attendance and Participation: 10%
• Literature Review: 20% (Due two weeks after your chosen topic/class)
• Group Presentation: 30% (Due: dates TBD)
• Independent Research Paper: 40% (Due: TBD)