The diffusion of global power and the decline of global governance
Translated title
Die Diffusion globaler Macht und der Niedergang der globalen Governance
Publication date
2025-08-26
Secondary publication date
2025-12-01
Document type
Forschungsartikel
Author
Organisational unit
Original publication DOI
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Series or journal
Ethics & International Affairs
ISSN
Periodical volume
39
Periodical issue
2
First page
145
Last page
158
Peer-reviewed
✅
Part of the university bibliography
✅
File(s)
Language
English
Keyword
Global governance
Internationale Beziehungen
Hegemonie
Abstract
The global diffusion of state power has led to a decline in global governance; that is, in the attempt to build authoritative rules and institutions that represent the common goals of the international community. The rise of China and other powers has increased the heterogeneity of the international system, and the erstwhile hegemon has turned against the international order. The major powers today have vastly different domestic characteristics and pursue strongly divergent interests. This has gridlocked and marginalized multilateral organizations such as the United Nations and World Trade Organization and seen a worrying disregard for international law. In response, the institutional ecosystem of global governance is adapting by lowering its scope, weakening its commitments, and splintering into partly competing institutional orders. Adaptation and decline are not mutually exclusive: Today, we can witness the adaptation of global governance to its own decline. Theoretically, this points to the enduring relevance of hegemonic stability theory for global governance. The result is a reduced normative ambition for global governance, signaling a retreat from the grand internationalist vision of organized cooperation among all the members of the international community.
Description
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
Version
Published version
Access right on openHSU
Open access