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. Continue reading Replies: A Third Generation of Global Governance Research
All posts by Tom Pegram
Interrogating form and function: Designing effective national human rights institutions
Katerina Linos and I have published a working paper in the Danish Institute of Human Rights (DIHR) Matters of Concern Human Rights Research Paper Series – a working paper series focusing on new and emerging research on human rights across academic disciplines. The DIHR is one of the oldest NHRIs in the world and has a longstanding reputation for facilitating meaningful dialogue among academic, practitioner and policymaker communities.
The paper, Interrogating Form and Function: Designing Effective National Human Rights Institutions, examines the key question: what institutional features make NHRIs effective? It departs from the conventional assumption that formal design matters and speaks Continue reading Interrogating form and function: Designing effective national human rights institutions
Wanted: A Third Generation of Global Governance Research
David Coen, founding Director of the UCL Global Governance Institute (GGI), and I have just published a Commentary in the journal Governance which sets out our initial thoughts on an ambitious new research agenda on global governance. Together with colleagues at UCL and beyond, the GGI is dedicated to advancing a research agenda on global governance which seeks to integrate insights across an theoretically and empirically-rich second generation of scholarship to ground a powerful third generation of global governance scholarship, distinguished by a concern for the complexity and dynamism of global public policy-making and delivery in the 21st century. An extract of the piece follows, the full publication can be viewed here. Continue reading Wanted: A Third Generation of Global Governance Research
The effects of international human rights soft law
Katerina Linos and I have just finished putting the final touches to our paper ‘The Language of Compromise in International Agreements’ and we’re excited about its journal publication shortly. We hope it will make a significant contribution to debates surrounding international law, organizations and human rights. Using an original dataset from the 1991 Paris Principles on the Design of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) in addition to several sources of qualitative evidence, we find that the degree of flexibility in soft law agreement language influences state behaviour. Continue reading The effects of international human rights soft law
What is the functional need/specific benefit of global human rights governance?
The actors, mechanisms, and processes of contemporary global human rights governance have their antecedents in a desire to prevent massive violence and warfare. However, the remit has rapidly evolved to encompass a range of global policy challenges, from universal health provision to sustainable development. Human rights provides one normative bedrock upon which to anchor a conception of governance in the service of the global common good. Notwithstanding debate over their meaning and conceptual parameters, there is widespread acceptance that human rights norms are substantially important, reflecting pragmatic, deeply-held shared concerns. Continue reading What is the functional need/specific benefit of global human rights governance?