Is globalisation presently being governed To the extent it is, how is Essay

Is globalisation presently being governed To the extent it is, how is this being done - Essay Example To some extent this is the case, but as we will see, the range of actors and processes comprehended by such terms as ‘globalisation’ and ‘global governance’ are perhaps too complex and too numerous to be encompassed in any account. In short, the aim of this essay is to explore the nature and efficacy of contemporary attempts to govern globalising forces, and to assess the methods used and the degree of success they have been met with. The term ‘global governance’ is bandied about in the literature a great deal, but different scholars seem to have attached a range of different, sometimes overlapping, and sometimes conflicting, meanings to it. As Dingwerth and Pattberg (2006) observed, ‘the concept of global governance has become ever more popular – and confusion about its meaning ever greater’ (p. 185). Writing on the same theme, Payne (2005) went so far as to claim that governance is one of the most used and abused terms in c ontemporary academic discourse, perhaps beaten to first place only by globalisation (p. 55). It is necessary to gain some clarity on this issue if we are to build a useful analytical framework for discussing the consequences and demands of globalisation. Dingwerth and Pattberg (2006) declared, exasperated, that ‘’Global Governance’ appears to be virtually anything’ (p. 185). However, using their review article as a helpful foundation, we can see global governance as an analytical framework which has succeeded ‘international relations’ – the traditional way of seeing interaction between sovereign states. While global governance refers partly to the institutional response to globalisation, and attempts by states to order globalising processes, it is surely something larger than this, and encompasses a series of phenomena which can be observed working above and below the level of intergovernmental cooperation. There are, for example, socia l and political movements which transcend state boundaries, often facilitated by the unique opportunities for communication afforded by the internet. There are also private networks and private corporations whose interests and activities span continents. Pressure groups such as Greenpeace and judicial actors like the International Criminal Court are only the most visible of millions of actors in the global arena. Weiss (1999), likewise, saw global governance as a response to the widespread dissatisfaction with existing theories of international relations, and especially the failure of such theories to adequately make allowance for the colossal increase, in numbers and importance, of actors independent of the state, and especially of the transformations brought about by new technologies, especially the internet. Rosenau (1995) understood all of this, and acknowledged that an understanding of global governance rests on a great deal more than an exploration of the formal institutions a nd mechanisms – bodies such as the United Nations - that have been established by governments to deal with globalisation. As he himself writes, it is ‘more than the formal institutions through which the management of international affairs is or is not sustained’ (p. 13). He extends the competence of global governance right down to every level of human activity, including interactions between families across borders. Dingwerth and Patt