Networks Of Global Governance

Politics is intuitively about relationships, but until recently the network perspective has not been a dominant part of the methodological paradigm that political scientists use to study politics. This volume is a foundational statement about networks in the study of politics.

Critical Choices.

Introduces the idea of modes of governance to compare the causes and consequences of changes in global institutions.

As a result of global dynamics--the increasing interconnection of people and places--innovations in global environmental governance haved altered the role of cities in shaping the future of the planet. This book is a timely study of the importance of these social transformations in our increasingly global and increasingly urban world. Through analysis of transnational municipal networks, such as Metropolis and the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, Sofie Bouteligier's innovative study examines theories of the network society and global cities from a global ecology perspective. Through direct observation and interviews and using two types of city networks that have been treated separately in the literature, she discovers the structure and logic pertaining to office networks of environmental non-governmental organizations and environmental consultancy firms. In doing so she incisively demonstrates the ways in which cities fulfill the role of strategic sites of global environmental governance, concentrating knowledge, infrastructure, and institutions vital to the function of transnational actors.

Case study rich, this volume advances our understanding of the significance of 'the city' in global governance. The editors call for innovation in international relations theory with case studies that add breadth to theorizing the role sub-national political actors play in global affairs. Each of the eight case studies demonstrates different intersections between the local and the global and how these intersections alter the conditions resulting from globalization processes. The case studies do so by focusing on one of three sub-themes: the diverse ways in which cities and sub-national regions impact nation-state foreign policy; the various dimensions of urban imbrications in global environmental politics; or the multiple methods and standards used to measure the global roles of cities.

Public administration ensures the development and delivery of the essential public services required for sustaining modern civilization. Covering areas from public safety and social welfare to transportation and education, the services provided through the public sector are inextricably part of our daily lives. However, mandatory budgetary cuts in recent years have caused public administrators to radically re-think how they govern in the modern age. In this Very Short Introduction Stella Theodoulou and Ravi Roy offer practical insight into the major challenges confronting the public sector in the globalized era. Tackling some of the most hotly debated issues of our time, including the privatization of public services and government surveillance, they take the reader on a global journey through history to examine the origins, development, and continued evolution of public administration. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Including several contributions from an international group of historians and experts of international relations, this book analyses the relationship between the United Nations and European integration. The book, which covers from 1945 to the present, is organised into three sections, each dedicated to a different phase of the integration process, during which EU-UN relations had a different character. The essays of the first section deal with the 1950s and 1960s and show the active part played by UN bodies in shaping the integration process. In the second part, covering the 1970s and 1980s, it is the European Community which is shown to have had a visible impact on the life and the decision-making process of several UN bodies. Finally, the third part of the book, on the post-Cold War years, describes a more complex situation, characterised by new geopolitical responsibilities of the European Union, but also by its deep internal transformations due to several treaty revisions and the enlargement to Eastern Europe. Thus, dynamics similar to those described in the first section return, with UN bodies shaping some of the internal rules of the EU, but these coexist with strengthened European activity in the United Nations, in some cases leading to real partnerships.

Palgrave Advances in Global Governance is an authoritative collection devoted to clarifying established understandings of global governance as a distinct form of political activity. Ranging across the actors, arenas, means and purposes of global governance, this incisive collection brings order and clarity to a burgeoning literature.