Description: This book analyzes the politics of global governance by looking at how global policymaking actually works. It provides a comprehensive theoretical and methodological framework which is systematically applied to the study of three global policies drawn from recent UN activities: the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015, the institutionalization of the Human Rights Council from 2005 onwards, and the ongoing promotion of the protection of civilians in peace operations. By unpacking the practices and the values that have prevailed in these three cases, the authors demonstrate how global policymaking forms a patchwork pervaded by improvisation and social conflict. They also show how global governance embodies a particular vision of the common good at the expense of alternative perspectives. The book will appeal to students and scholars of global governance, international organizations and global policy studies.
Brief description: Jean-Philippe Thérien's work focuses on international organizations and global governance. He has published widely on the United Nations, North-South relations, global ideologies and the inter-American system. He is the co-author of Left and Right in Global Politics (Cambridge, 2008), and co-editor of Summits and Regional Governance (2016).
Review Quotes: 'In this superb book, the dynamic and fluid character of global policymaking is captured by treating global governance as an 'unscripted process' - one that is defined by seemingly undirected and impromptu practices of bricolage. Pouliot and Thérien take the UN as one important site of global policy processes to provide a rich and conceptually sophisticated illustration of their 'practice approach' to the analysis of global governance. This approach brings to the fore the inclusionary as well as exclusionary 'politics' and value debates behind the 'patchwork' of global policymaking.' Diane Stone, Chair of Global Policy, School of Transnational Governance, EUI