Wither global governance: Challenges and uncertainty in the Trump Era
Donald Trump has come into the White House. He, along with his supporters in America, only a little more than half of the voters, will start to implement the so-called MAGA strategy. However, people in other countries are asking these important questions: What will happen to the world in the next four years? In particular, how global governance will proceed in the future?
Global governance is the way of dealing with global issues. It is well-recognized that globalization is not the cause of global issues, but global issues have become all the more conspicuous in the face of rapid development of globalization. And, all of these issues have caused immense sufferings for the mankind. Therefore, we need to redouble our efforts to push forward global governance.
There are so many global issues. Therefore, from an academic perspective, we have to break down the general term “global governance” into many specific areas, such as global economic governance, global trade governance, global financial governance, global tax governance, global climate governance, global internet governance, global digital governance, global health governance, global AI governance, global human rights governance, global maritime governance, global cultural governance, global environmental governance, global space governance, governance of the global commons, global governance of the new frontiers, global security governance, global poverty governance, global IP governance, etc. Apparently, each of these global governance requires different knowledge, theory, research methodology, policy proposals and actions.
Global governance needs global leadership. Theoretically speaking, the United Nations should be the best leader in this regard. In practice, however, this global body fails to meet the expectations of the world. Several reasons can explain this failure and one of the most important is the selfishness of each country. As each country is not willing to sacrifice its own national interest, it is not easy to reconcile with each other’s position. This kind of dilemma is getting worse as the United States, the only super-power in the world, has abandoned multilateralism, and the United Nations will continue to muddle through the global issues in a hopeless way.
Effectiveness of global governance depends on global cooperation. In this sense, the greatest challenge for global governance is not only the absence of the United Nations’ global leadership, but also the four “-isms”, i.e., hegemonism, unilateralism, protectionism, and bullyism, deeply rooted in the American foreign policy. From exiting the World Health Organization and the Paris (Climate) Agreement to raising tariffs at will, and from weaponizing national security to blocking new appellate body members for the World Trade Organization, what the United States has done is far from beneficial to the global efforts to strengthen global cooperation for global governance. Sadly, the four -isms cherished by the United States will be unlikely to disappear in the next four years or even the foreseeable future although the developing countries or the Global South are consistently calling for the U.S. to behave like a superpower.
In recent years, climate change has been attracting increasing attention as it has caused great damages to the mankind. The United States, along with the European Union, is believed to be very concerned about this global issue. In practice, however, they are doing just the opposite. They refuse to import climate-friendly clean energy cars made in China. If this kind of protectionism is not to be eliminated, the discussion of pushing for global climate change is nothing more than lip-service.
Global governance is closely related to international order. The shape of the international order can affect the way of promoting global governance. The U.S. often claims that every country should respect the so-called “rules-based order”. However, it fails to explain what are the rules and who can make these rules.
As Chinese President Xi Jinping repeatedly said, China wishes to “continue to work as a builder of global peace, a contributor to global development and a defender of international order.” It also proposes that countries of the world should “uphold the international order underpinned by international law”. Will President Trump agree to accept this order based on international law? Most likely, the answer is “No”.
The United States needs to understand that it is also a victim of many global issues. So let us hope that it will undertake global responsibility and cooperate with other countries in the process of pushing forward global governance in the year ahead.
(The author is Jiang Shixue, a professor with Shanghai University. The views are his own.)
