Centre of Excellence Programme on Global Governance and Democratic Government

As from November 2010 the Centre hosts a seven-year research programme (2010-2017) on Global Governance and Democratic Government. This programme, conducted jointly with the Centre for Ethics, Social and Political Philosophy of K.U.Leuven, is aimed at the construction of a new paradigm for democratic global governance.

On the theoretical level, the main objective is to identify the necessary conceptual building blocks of a democratic global governance architecture: what are the basic normative assumptions of democratic government, and which democratic principles should remain effective on the transnational level? What lessons can we draw from the EU in this respect? On the empirical level, the programme involves an investigation into four key areas of global governance and selected cases: (i) global environmental governance: the elaboration and implementation of a post-2012 climate change regime; (ii) global peace and security governance: the functioning and legitimacy of the UN Security Council and its relationship to regional security actors; (iii) global economic governance: the functioning and legitimacy of the G20, the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization; and (iv) global human rights governance: corporate social responsibility and the role, responsibilities and regulatory initiatives of business enterprises.

The research programme is managed by an interdisciplinary group of promoters: Prof. Dr. Jan Wouters (international and EU law), Prof. Dr. Geert Van Calster (private international law and international environmental law), Prof. Dr. Hans Bruyninckx (international relations and international environmental politics), Prof. Dr. Christophe Crombez (political economy), Prof. Dr. Antoon Braeckman (political philosophy), Prof. Dr. Tim Heysse (political philosophy) and Prof. Dr. Helder De Schutter (political philosophy).

To ensure academic quality and adequate strategic guidance, the research programme will progress under the aegis of a Scientific Advisory Board composed of the following internationally recognized experts in the field of global governance and democracy: Prof. Dr. Thomas Weiss (Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies, City University New York), Prof. Dr. Walter van Gerven (emeritus, Faculty of Law, K.U.Leuven), Prof. Dr. Jan Aart Scholte (Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation, University of Warwick), Prof. Dr. Andreas Follesdal (Director of Research, Norwegian Centre for Human Rights; Faculty of Law, University of Oslo), Prof. Dr. René Foqué (Faculty of Law, K.U.Leuven); Prof. Dr. Arthur Mol (Chair Environmental Policy Group, Wageningen University), Prof. Dr. Bert van den Brink (Department of Philosophy, Utrecht University) and Prof. Dr. Andreas Kalyvas (New School for Social Research, New York).

During the first research phase (2010-2014), the programme hosts two postdoctoral researchers and six PhD researchers.