ST-205 Institutionalism and Transnational Governance (Spring 2025)

The course will give students a better understanding of:

• the emergence and spread of new organizational forms and functions in today's transnational governance
• the complexity of coordination and power sharing agreements between several actors in different forms of transnational governance
• the relationship between institutions and social as well as political results
• legitimacy of international organizations

In the wake of World War II, the number and scope of intergovernmental organizations has increased dramatically both at regional and global level. Examples of this are the EU, the UN institutions and the WTO. Many of these organizations - such as the EU - has developed management competence in the core areas of the classic national state (eg economic policy or security).

During the last 15 years, intergovernmental organizations have continued to expand, but there has also been a shift to new forms of organization in transnational governance - for example plurilateral clubs, transnational public-private collaborators, as well as private, transnational regulatory organizations. The increasing diversity and complexity of transnational institutional landscape has important implications for global politics.

The first part of the course provides students with the necessary building blocks from different theoretical perspectives on change and stability in organizational systems. The second part of the course links these theoretical insights to a number of specific policy areas. These include transnational leadership in health policy, environmental policy, regionalism, international assistance and development, higher education and finance. Through a thorough study of various forms of international cooperation within these specific policy areas, students will gain an in-depth understanding of the transnational political process and its variations between policy areas.