The crisis of contemporary democracy has become a major subject of political commentary. But the symptoms of this crisis, the vote for Brexit and Trump, among other things, were not foreseen. Nor were the underlying causes of this new constellation of politics. Focussing on the internal development of national polities alone does not help us […]
Broken Politics: From 9/11 To Today
The inauguration of President Trump, the separation of the UK from the European Union, the rise of the populist right across the US and Europe, and the political clampdown in Turkey imposed by President Erdogan, are among countless signs that the postwar liberal order, established after 1945, has begun to collapse. The UN and EU […]
Britain Riding The Tectonic Plates
The referendum was lost some time ago. At its most superficial it was lost because the EU failed to give Cameron enough to take back from the negotiating table in the form of plausible and sustainable gains for the UK. It was lost because Labour’s leadership catastrophically failed to join a unified platform until the […]
The Vicious Cycle Of Pitiless Violence
There has been carnage over the last few days in Beirut, Baghdad, Paris and Bamako and, of course, there have been numerous such attacks before these and, no doubt, numerous more to come. To understand something of why, it is important to start with the terrorist atrocities on 9/11, when hijacked jets crashed into the […]
The Migration Crisis In The EU: Between 9/11 And Climate Change
In the wake of the mounting migration crisis in Europe, Global Policy Journal General Editor David Held unpicks the reasons behind the upsurge in people crossing the Mediterranean and offers policy responses that suggest the need for a universal constitutional order. Since the end of the Cold War, migration has taken on a new momentum […]
Global Governance… Into The Future
Global governance is failing when we need it most. The paradox of our times is that, as global problems become more complex and threatening, our global institutions lose their force as organizing frameworks for inter-state cooperation. Starting from the Lorenzetti’s painting “The Allegory of the Good and the Bad Government”, David Held, Master of University […]
Ten Questions For The British Labour Party
The UK general election was tumultuous and the results, particularly for Labour and the Liberal Democrats, disastrous. Of course, the position of Labour is better than that of the Liberal Democrats, but the combined fate of their decline is disheartening and disorienting for anyone on the centre- left. The surprise and shock of the outcome […]
Gridlock – Why Global Cooperation Is Failing
Watch Professor David Held deliver a lecture on his latest book entitled “Gridlock: Why Global Cooperation is Failing When We Need it Most” as part of the Castle Lecture Series, Durham University, on 24th April 2013. [youtube=http://youtu.be/TgAKhRqdAu0] You can find more information about the book here.
Transnational Governance: Issues, Dilemmas and Prospects
What kind of directions and roles do you see transnational governance as playing in relation to some key issues: climate change and regional conflicts and nuclear non-proliferation? David Held: I think that multilateral organisations in the conventional form of international governmental organisations suffer from two deficits which pervade them; one is they don’t meet the […]
From the American Century to a Cosmopolitan Order
‘9/11’ is a term known across the world. The notion of the ‘war on terror’ reached across continents. ‘Sub-prime markets’ was a concept of the few before it became widely understood as a trigger of the global financial crisis. Weather patterns in southern Africa used to be understood as an act of God; they are […]
The Link is Broken
Globalisation expert David Held on the future of social justice DIE ZEIT: Professor Held, since the economic crisis it could hardly be said that social justice has enjoyed a political resurgence. In Germany, the parties have not been able to agree on Hartz IV; in the UK, the government is cutting welfare like never before; […]
The Changing Face of Global Governance
Until recently, the West has, by and large, determined the rules of the game on the global stage. During the last century, western countries presided over a shift in world power – from control via territory to control via the creation of governance structures created in the post-1945 era. From the United Nations Charter and […]