Global Governance Futures: Imperfect Utopias or Bust

Professor Giorgio Savini is an astrophysicist at University College London, specialising in instrumentation for space exploration. As a key figure at UCL’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, his work bridges the gap between astrophysics and engineering, focusing on the development of cutting-edge technologies for space telescopes and satellite systems. He has been involved in major international consortiums, including working on the Planck Probe’s High Frequency Instrument and currently serving as Payload Scientist on the European Space Agency ARIEL mission. In this conversation, we delve into the practical implications of space governance on the work of scientists and technicians tasked with pushing the frontiers of space exploration, why the 1967 Outer Space Treaty is not fit for purposes, the very real dangers posed by Kessler Syndrome (space debris), and what global governance should have to do with it. Giorgio’s official profile can be found here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/physics-astronomy/people/professor-giorgio-savini We discussed: The Outer Space Treaty, 1967: https://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/spacelaw/treaties/introouterspacetreaty.html The Moon Agreement, 1984: https://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/spacelaw/treaties/intromoon-agreement.html The Artemis Accords, 2020: https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-accords/

Deborah Avant is the Sié Chéou-Kang Chair for International Security and Diplomacy at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver. She is a distinguished scholar in the field of international relations, renowned for her expertise in global governance, security studies, and civil-military relations. Her groundbreaking 2005 book, The Market for Force: The Consequences of Privatizing Security earned her widespread acclaim and shone an important light on privatization of military services and its implications for global security. Her current research uses network and pragmatic theory to understand how security and governance are actually conducted – both historically and in the contemporary world. In this conversation, we reflect on the role of private military companies and the aftermath of the Iraq War. challenges and opportunities in security studies, the role of academia in addressing global crises, the importance of questioning conventional wisdom, and much more. Deborah’s official profile can be found here: https://korbel.du.edu/about/directory/deborah-avant We discussed: The Market for Force: The Consequences of Privatizing Security, 2005: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/market-for-force/0EAE220EDCBF4ADF88F97B6F7B1BDD10 Who Governs the Globe (with M. Finnemore and S. Sell), 2010: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/who-governs-the-globe/6B6B62E4C2E00E560DF3B2B35E79C839 The Ethics of Engaged Scholarship in a Complex World, 2024: https://academic.oup.com/ia/article-abstract/100/1/159/7506709?redirectedFrom=fulltext

Professor Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im is the Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law Emeritus at Emory Law, associated professor in the Emory College of Arts and Sciences, and senior fellow of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion of Emory University. A world-renowned scholar of Islam and human rights and human rights in cross-cultural perspectives, An-Na'im teaches courses in international law, comparative law, human rights, and Islamic law. His research interests include constitutionalism in Islamic and African countries, secularism, Islam and politics and human rights. Our conversation was inspired by his latest book, Decolonizing Human Rights, which challenges both historical interpretations of Islamic Sharia and neocolonial understanding of human rights. Abdullahi proposes a transformation from human rights organised around state-determined practice to one that is focused on what he calls a “people-centric” approach that empowers individuals to decide how human rights will be understood and integrated into their communities. This argument serves as the starting point for our conversation on the complexities, paradoxes and cultural dimensions that challenge a traditional Western perspective on human rights and invites inquiry into what a decolonized, culturally-inclusive alternative might look like. Abdullahi’s official profile can be found here: https://law.emory.edu/faculty/faculty-emeritus/annaim-emeritus-profile.html We discussed: Decolonizing Human Rights, 2021: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/decolonizing-human-rights/decolonizing-human-rights/1A39889DEDE614E07D18FFF988BF085F Human Rights and its Inherent Liberal Relativism, 2019: https://goldsmithspress.pubpub.org/pub/v1c6tsos/release/1 Human Rights in Cross-Cultural Perspectives: A Quest for Consensus, 2010: https://muse.jhu.edu/book/340

Professor Cynthia Enloe is a Research Professor in the Department of Sustainability and Social Justice at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. Cynthia is one of the leading voices on gender and militarism, as well as one of the main proponents of feminist international relations. With fifteen published books and numerous awards to her name, Cynthia is a passionate lecturer and activist, dedicated to raising awareness about how feminist and gendered perspectives have shaped both national and international political discourse. Her contribution to advancing gender justice in international politics has been recognised by the inclusion on the Gender Justice Legacy Wall unveiled at the International Criminal Court at The Hague. Our conversation was inspired by her latest book, Twelve Feminist Lessons of War, which urges us to contemplate and maintain curiosity about the diverse realities of women’s wartime lived realities. In a world marked by conflict, Cynthia emphasises the need to acknowledge that “women’s wars are not men’s wars” as a foundation for building enduring peace. This principle serves as the starting point for our conversation on the gendered experiences of war, hierarchies of femininities and masculinities, and the importance of transnational feminist solidarity. Cynthia can be found here: https://www.clarku.edu/faculty/profiles/cynthia-enloe/ We discussed: • Twelve Feminist Lessons of War (London: Footnote Press; Berkeley: University of California Press), 2023. • Bananas, Beaches and Bases: Making Feminist Sense of International Politics (Berkley: University of California Press), 2014. • The Curious Feminist: Searching for Women in a New Age of Empire (Berkley: University of California Press), 2004. • Maneuvers: The International Politics of Militarizing Women's Lives (Berkley: University of California Press), 2000.

Bonnitta Roy discusses transcending limiting thought patterns, embracing complexity, and the potential for good in reimagining our way of thinking. The episode explores the shift from linear to systemic thinking, the role of imagination in challenging norms, and the integration of nature-inspired solutions in problem-solving.

In this podcast, Professor Michael Barnett discusses humanitarian intervention, liberal biases post-Cold War, and the relevance of global governance. The conversation delves into the potential of genocide in Israel, challenges faced by Palestinian refugees, and the need to reconcile human progress with tragedies like World War I. It also explores ethical complexities in global governance shifts and the significance of empowerment in critical theory.

Professor Geoff Mann is Distinguished Professor of Geography at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver BC. Geoff is an award-winning political economist and writer, known as a leading researcher on the historical development and future trajectory of economic governance set against the backdrop of the climate crisis. He is a senior fellow at the Institute for New Economic Thinking and a 2022 recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship award for his contributions to his field. Among many publications, the book Climate Leviathan: A Political Theory of Our Planetary Future (Verso, 2018) (with Joel Wainwright) is a vital referent point for anyone interested in the radical political consequences of climate change. But it is the quite brilliant 2019 article in the Boston Review ‘It Was Not Supposed to End This Way’ and his intriguing claim that ‘the tragedy of liberalism is its inability to narrate the end progress’ which serves as the point of departure for our conversation. In this podcast we talk about the scale and depth of the challenge posed by the Anthropocene, the impossible ‘We’, the tragedy of liberalism, and where we might look for alternative stories to narrate the end of progress, and much, much more. Geoff can be found here: https://www.sfu.ca/geography/about/our-people/profiles/Geoff-Mann.html And tweets @GeoffPMann: https://twitter.com/GeoffPMann We discussed: ‘Markets Won’t Stop Fossil Fuels’, Dissent Magazine, Spring 2023: https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/markets-wont-stop-fossil-fuels/ ‘It Was Not Supposed to End This Way’, Boston Review, 13 August 2019: https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/geoff-mann-it-was-not-supposed-end-way/ Climate Leviathan: A Political Theory of Our Planetary Future (Verso, 2018) (with Joel Wainwright): https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/520-climate-leviathan

Professor David Kennedy is the Manley O. Hudson Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Institute for Global Law and Policy at Harvard Law School. Described by prominent historian Samuel Moyn as “the single most important innovator in international legal thought of the past several decades,” David is renowned for his penetrating and critical analysis of the place of law in global governance. He is the author of numerous books and articles exploring issues of global governance, human rights, development policy and the nature of professional expertise. His most recent book with Harvard University Press, Of Law and the World, is a searching dialogue between himself and close associate and renowned critical legal scholar in his own right, Professor Martti Koskenniemi: https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674290785 In this conversation we talk about a political economy approach to global governance, what international law has got to do with it, experts and lawyers as “governors,” the role of critical scholarship, and much, much more. David can be found here: https://hls.harvard.edu/faculty/david-w-kennedy/ We discussed: A World of Struggle: How Power, Law and Expertise Shape Global Political Economy, Princeton University Press (2016): https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691146782/a-world-of-struggle Interview with David Kennedy, “Global Governance in Crisis Time,” 25 June 2020: https://www.centeronnationalsecurity.org/vital-interests-issue-37-david-kennedy “The mystery of global governance,” Ohio Northern University Law Review, vol. 34 (2008): http://iglp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Kennedy_GlobalGovernance.pdf The Rights of Spring: A Memoir of Innocence Abroad, Princeton University Press (2009): https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691141381/the-rights-of-spring

Dr Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann is Canada Research Chair in International Human Rights and Professor Emeritus at the Department of Political Science and the School of International Policy and Governance (Balsillie School of International Affairs), Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, Canada. A sociologist by training, Professor Howard-Hassmann is widely recognized as a leading interdisciplinary scholar in the field of human rights, named in 2006 the first Distinguished Scholar of Human Rights by the Human Rights Section, American Political Science Association and in 2014 a Distinguished Scholar of Human Rights by the Human Rights Section of the International Studies Association. In this conversation we talk about the universality of human rights, women’s rights, citizenship apartheid, cultural relativism, the limits of philosophy, and much, much more. Rhoda can be found here: https://www.wlu.ca/academics/faculties/faculty-of-arts/faculty-profiles/rhoda-e-howard-hassmann/index.html She blogs at: https://rhodahassmann.blogspot.com/ We discussed: 2018. In Defense of Universal Human Rights: https://www.wiley.com/en-us/In+Defense+of+Universal+Human+Rights-p-9781509513536 2021. ‘A new hope for human rights.’ Journal of Human Rights: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14754835.2021.1920896?journalCode=cjhr20 2021. ‘Human Rights: What Does the Future Hold?’ (by Daniel Braaten). International Studies Review: https://academic.oup.com/isr/article-abstract/23/3/1164/6041199?login=false Image: Frans Francken (II) - Mankind's Eternal Dilemma – The Choice Between Virtue and Vice

In this podcast, Professor Thomas O'Lee discusses complexity theory and political economy, challenging traditional thinking. They explore the relationship between the climate crisis and energy policies, the role of complexity theory in international relations, and the concept of black swan events. The chapter also delves into information entropy, predicting the financial crisis, transitioning to green energy, and the limitations of state intervention.