Regime Complexes: A Buzz, a Boom, or a Boost for Global Governance?

Abstract

Understanding the impact of regime complexes on global governance calls for creative policy thinking. This introduction provides a new and more precise definition of the concept of regime complex. It also suggests specific tools to characterize regime complexes and analyze their impacts on global governance. The articles in this issue deepen the analytical understanding of complexes by examining concrete examples in various domains of global governance such as piracy, taxation, energy, food security, emissions reduction, carbon sinks, biosafety, and refugee governance. In addition to providing an in-depth description of a variety of different regime complexes, this issue is innovative on three accounts: (1) it presents complexes both as barriers and opportunities for global governance and gives explanations for these diverse outcomes; (2) it shows how a broad spectrum of actors is necessary for understanding the creation and evolution of complexes; and (3) it qualifies former claims to the effect that only powerful actors can impact regime complexes.

Education for All as a Global Regime of Educational Governance: Issues and Tensions

“…Barnett & Duvall, 2014;Digwerth & Pattberg, 2006;Mosse, 2005;Orsini, Morin, & Young, 2013;Ruggie, 2014) including a more specialised literature that has sought to apply the concept to education (e.g. Jones, 2005;Mundy & Manion, 2014;Mundy & Murphy, 2001;Mundy & Verger, 2015).…”

“…Ndikumana, 2014). This has implications for EFA as an educational regime of governance and in particular the need to consider EFA and other social regimes such as the MDGs as part of a wider 'regime complex' (Orsini et al, 2013) that includes regimes linked to global economic regulation. It also draws attention to an aspect of the MDGs and of donor support for education in general that there is a tendency for donor aid linked to the MDGs to foster dependency.…”

The Politics and Institutions of global Energy Governance

“…The international energy governance architecture largely took shape in response to the oil shocks of the 1970s. Structural shifts in international energy markets have put this global and Meunier 2009; Orsini et al 2013) or 'governance architectures' (Biermann et al 2009). Both concepts refer to the interlocking governance structures that lie between the poles of a fully integrated legal system on the one hand and total fragmentation on the other (Keohane and Victor 2011).…”

Global health governance: we need innovation not renovation

“…But this will require it to enable consensus on issues that transcend borders in a nimble and timely manner 14. The real innovation, however, will be in mechanisms to facilitate the formation of networks, sharing of resources, generation of ideas and enabling of decision-making across constituencies that are not confined to states alone.…”