Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Organizations
Global governance has been widely embraced as an object of analysis and as a way of “seeing” worl... more Global governance has been widely embraced as an object of analysis and as a way of “seeing” world politics. Yet we still know little about how publishing has evolved. This article presents the first systematic exploration of these patterns. It uses an original dataset of global governance research to answer three first-order questions: How has publishing varied over time? What issues have scholars focused on? And who has been publishing in the field? The authors found that research has grown and become increasingly diverse—but selectively so. Some marginalized issues feature more prominently than in the rest of international relations, but there are blind spots too. Further, while research is less American and women have been comparatively more active relative to other areas, geographical diversity remains extremely limited. Scholars based in the Global South have been the first authors of less than 14 percent of all publications. To conclude, the article reflects on implications f...
Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Organizations, 2022
Global governance has been widely embraced as an object of analysis and as a way of “seeing” worl... more Global governance has been widely embraced as an object of analysis and as a way of “seeing” world politics. Yet we still know little about how publishing has evolved. This article presents the first systematic exploration of these patterns. It uses an original dataset of global governance research to answer three first-order questions: How has publishing varied over time? What issues have scholars focused on? And who has been publishing in the field? The authors found that research has grown and become increasingly diverse—but selectively so. Some marginalized issues feature more prominently than in the rest of international relations, but there are blind spots too. Further, while research is less American and women have been comparatively more active relative to other areas, geographical diversity remains extremely limited. Scholars based in the Global South have been the first authors of less than 14 percent of all publications. To conclude, the article reflects on implications for the field.
In this working paper, we present the results of a survey completed by 1,004 staff members of 30 ... more In this working paper, we present the results of a survey completed by 1,004 staff members of 30 international organizations (IO) across six key areas of governance: trade, climate change, development, migration, finance, and security. The selected organizations also include United Nations (UN) agencies as well as three Directorates-General (DG) of the European Union. Respondents were asked to share their opinions on the main trends shaping the future of global governance. Looking specifically at the 2020–30 decade, we focused our questions on perceptions about the role of IOs in the increasingly complex global governance environments they are involved in. We were also interested in staff members’ perceptions of their own organizations’ internal dynamics and performances, as well as in their perceptions of the main difficulties and problems their organizations face. Overall, the survey reveals that IO staff are sensitive to global trends and challenges, notably climate change, globa...
The rapid advances in the development and rollout of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies ov... more The rapid advances in the development and rollout of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies over the past years have triggered a frenzy of regulatory initiatives at various levels of government and the private sector. This article describes and evaluates the emerging global AI governance architecture and traces the contours of a nascent regime in a fragmented landscape. To do so, it organizes actors and initiatives in a two-by-two matrix, distinguishing between the nature of the driving actor(s) and whether or not their actions take place within the existing governance architecture. Based on this, it provides an overview of key actors and initiatives, highlighting their trajectories and connections. The analysis shows international organizations’ high levels of agency in addressing AI policy and a tendency to address new challenges within existing frameworks. Lastly, it is argued that we are witnessing the first signs of consolidation in this fragmented landscape. The nascent AI ...
The article explores the evolving positions and negotiation strategies of the EU and its member s... more The article explores the evolving positions and negotiation strategies of the EU and its member states regarding lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS). Specifically, it traces the proceedings around the UN disarmament forum Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) from 2013 to 2020. Embedded in the norm contestation literature, the empirical section draws upon semi-structured interviews as well as document analysis. We find that, despite the absence of a CFSP position on the matter, the EU and key member states have been instrumental in shaping the discussions. However, the role of the EU is constrained due to double contestation. First, at the level of member states contestation persists on what is the appropriate regulatory framework (hard or soft law). Second, contestation is also exerted towards the EU by some member states who contest the EEAS’s involvement. Some are conscious that presenting an “EU position” might constrain their ability to build global coalitions. Others do not want the EU to interfere with their national sovereignty on such a critical security issue. While these two elements work against a common EU position, we also observe a window of opportunity for the EU. Notably, the EU can strengthen the CCW by funding the forum structures and secretariat, which could become an important body in the implementation of foreseeable agreements.
This paper uses text mining and sentiment analysis of Twitter posts to explore the EU’s diplomati... more This paper uses text mining and sentiment analysis of Twitter posts to explore the EU’s diplomatic communication practices and to measure public opinion on foreign affairs. Building on an original dataset of almost one million tweets from the past five years, this analysis reveals differences in public perceptions of the EU’s relationship with China, India and Russia. Attitudes are most positive in the case of the EU–India relationship, followed by EU–China and EU–Russia. Furthermore, the paper examines hundreds of official EU Twitter accounts, specifically their communications on diplomatic relations with these countries. A main finding is that the EU talks about its diplomatic relations in more positive terms than the wider public, though this verbal politeness effect is less pronounced in the case of EU–Russia relations.
Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Organizations
Global governance has been widely embraced as an object of analysis and as a way of “seeing” worl... more Global governance has been widely embraced as an object of analysis and as a way of “seeing” world politics. Yet we still know little about how publishing has evolved. This article presents the first systematic exploration of these patterns. It uses an original dataset of global governance research to answer three first-order questions: How has publishing varied over time? What issues have scholars focused on? And who has been publishing in the field? The authors found that research has grown and become increasingly diverse—but selectively so. Some marginalized issues feature more prominently than in the rest of international relations, but there are blind spots too. Further, while research is less American and women have been comparatively more active relative to other areas, geographical diversity remains extremely limited. Scholars based in the Global South have been the first authors of less than 14 percent of all publications. To conclude, the article reflects on implications f...
Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Organizations, 2022
Global governance has been widely embraced as an object of analysis and as a way of “seeing” worl... more Global governance has been widely embraced as an object of analysis and as a way of “seeing” world politics. Yet we still know little about how publishing has evolved. This article presents the first systematic exploration of these patterns. It uses an original dataset of global governance research to answer three first-order questions: How has publishing varied over time? What issues have scholars focused on? And who has been publishing in the field? The authors found that research has grown and become increasingly diverse—but selectively so. Some marginalized issues feature more prominently than in the rest of international relations, but there are blind spots too. Further, while research is less American and women have been comparatively more active relative to other areas, geographical diversity remains extremely limited. Scholars based in the Global South have been the first authors of less than 14 percent of all publications. To conclude, the article reflects on implications for the field.
In this working paper, we present the results of a survey completed by 1,004 staff members of 30 ... more In this working paper, we present the results of a survey completed by 1,004 staff members of 30 international organizations (IO) across six key areas of governance: trade, climate change, development, migration, finance, and security. The selected organizations also include United Nations (UN) agencies as well as three Directorates-General (DG) of the European Union. Respondents were asked to share their opinions on the main trends shaping the future of global governance. Looking specifically at the 2020–30 decade, we focused our questions on perceptions about the role of IOs in the increasingly complex global governance environments they are involved in. We were also interested in staff members’ perceptions of their own organizations’ internal dynamics and performances, as well as in their perceptions of the main difficulties and problems their organizations face. Overall, the survey reveals that IO staff are sensitive to global trends and challenges, notably climate change, globa...
The rapid advances in the development and rollout of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies ov... more The rapid advances in the development and rollout of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies over the past years have triggered a frenzy of regulatory initiatives at various levels of government and the private sector. This article describes and evaluates the emerging global AI governance architecture and traces the contours of a nascent regime in a fragmented landscape. To do so, it organizes actors and initiatives in a two-by-two matrix, distinguishing between the nature of the driving actor(s) and whether or not their actions take place within the existing governance architecture. Based on this, it provides an overview of key actors and initiatives, highlighting their trajectories and connections. The analysis shows international organizations’ high levels of agency in addressing AI policy and a tendency to address new challenges within existing frameworks. Lastly, it is argued that we are witnessing the first signs of consolidation in this fragmented landscape. The nascent AI ...
The article explores the evolving positions and negotiation strategies of the EU and its member s... more The article explores the evolving positions and negotiation strategies of the EU and its member states regarding lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS). Specifically, it traces the proceedings around the UN disarmament forum Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) from 2013 to 2020. Embedded in the norm contestation literature, the empirical section draws upon semi-structured interviews as well as document analysis. We find that, despite the absence of a CFSP position on the matter, the EU and key member states have been instrumental in shaping the discussions. However, the role of the EU is constrained due to double contestation. First, at the level of member states contestation persists on what is the appropriate regulatory framework (hard or soft law). Second, contestation is also exerted towards the EU by some member states who contest the EEAS’s involvement. Some are conscious that presenting an “EU position” might constrain their ability to build global coalitions. Others do not want the EU to interfere with their national sovereignty on such a critical security issue. While these two elements work against a common EU position, we also observe a window of opportunity for the EU. Notably, the EU can strengthen the CCW by funding the forum structures and secretariat, which could become an important body in the implementation of foreseeable agreements.
This paper uses text mining and sentiment analysis of Twitter posts to explore the EU’s diplomati... more This paper uses text mining and sentiment analysis of Twitter posts to explore the EU’s diplomatic communication practices and to measure public opinion on foreign affairs. Building on an original dataset of almost one million tweets from the past five years, this analysis reveals differences in public perceptions of the EU’s relationship with China, India and Russia. Attitudes are most positive in the case of the EU–India relationship, followed by EU–China and EU–Russia. Furthermore, the paper examines hundreds of official EU Twitter accounts, specifically their communications on diplomatic relations with these countries. A main finding is that the EU talks about its diplomatic relations in more positive terms than the wider public, though this verbal politeness effect is less pronounced in the case of EU–Russia relations.
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Papers by Lewin Schmitt