David Coen and I published ‘Wanted: A Third Generation of Global Governance Research’ in August 2015 where we proposed advancing a powerful ‘third generation’ of global governance research by integrating insights across International Relations, European Public Policy and International Law scholarship. I am glad to say the piece has been well-received and provoked quite a lot of debate already! I’m particularly grateful to colleagues who have taken the time to contribute response pieces to The Governance blog.

Yves Tiberghien (UBC): David Coen and Tom Pegram are right on two counts: our current global governance system is not working and our current theories of global governance are too fragmented to help us analyze the situation and suggest improvements. Yet, the problem is even more serious than what they describe. In fact, the current combination of systemic risks, dramatic power shift, and entropic forces facing our existing global governance architecture could well overwhelm it. And we could well miss it until it is too late. Response here.

Angel Saz Carranza (ESADE): As a complement to David Coen and Tom Pegram’s recent call for a renewed global governance research effort, I underscore the usefulness to include in such an effort the organization perspective. Global governance needs administrative and organization research. Coen and Pegram correctly highlight the dire need to advance research on global governance by advancing inter-disciplinary and combining multiple methods. Their call for a new generation of global governance research is very timely. Response here.

Karthik Nachiappan (KCL): In a recent commentary for Governance, David Coen and Tom Pegram argue that the best way to improve global governance research is by synthesizing advances from three disciplines – International Relations, International Law and European Public Policy to enable scholars map, grapple with and overcome hindrances to global public policy-making. Though instructive, their agenda will not explain why ‘global governance is not working’ since their focus does not extend to the politics around gridlock in global governance today. Response here.

We hope to foster a rigorous and inclusive research agenda on global governance. To this end, we will host a major international symposium at the UCL Global Governance Institute in November 2015. We look forward to seeing where the discussion takes us.