1st Progress Meeting
The 1st GLOBE Progress Meeting (General Assembly) took place in the Leuven Institute for Ireland in Europe. On Day 1, the Deputy Director of the Centre for Global Governance in Leuven, Axel Marx, welcomed all participants. After that, the project officer, Danila Conte from the European Commission explained the role the European Commission will play in the project, placing a special emphasis on the evaluation process of the project.
Subsequently, the project manager, Adam Holesch presented the working paper on the conceptual framework, which has been developed within the GLOBE project, primarily by the members of Methodology Work Package. The paper seeks to establish a theoretical architecture from which all GLOBE members can work collaboratively. It will also serve as a theoretical reference for members before starting their respective mapping exercises within each Work Package.
The project coordinator, Jacint Jordana then presented the GLOBE Common Working Method Book, which establishes the guidelines for the mapping exercise required by each Work Package. The central aim of the Working Method Book is to establish a robust methodological framework which GLOBE members can utilize for enriched discussions and comparisons between the Packages. The project expects that members will rely primarily on the existing secondary literature dealing with their respective policy area within Global Governance. These efforts will be complemented by the expertise of each designated member and familiarity with their issue area. Additional consultations based on expert interviews will be integrated into the research when necessary.
The last agenda point of Day 1 of the 1st GLOBE Progress Meeting ensued in the presentation of various data sets about Global Governance, both pre-existing and newly constructed material by the GLOBE project. This was underpinned by an elucidative discussion about the possible overlaps and synergies between these datasets.
Day two started with a meeting with the International Advisory Board (IAB). The present IAB members shared their intricate knowledge and extensive background in relation to the project’s themes. The GLOBE team also connected per skype with other members of the IAB.
The second point addressed on the agenda was the Panel Debate: International and European Perspectives on Trade in Global Governance, in the Norway House in Brussels with the following persons: Sandra Gallina, Deputy Director General, DG Trade; Miles Kahler, Professor, American University and Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations; Qingmin Zhang, Professor, Peking University and Samuel Sam-Sumana, politician and former Vice President, Sierra Leone.
GLOBE Project Coordinator Jacint Jordana introduced the Project to the team, outlining the theoretical and methodological tenets of GLOBE. The event was chaired by Jan Wouters, Jean Monnet Chair and Director of the Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies. The discussion was marked by a close look at the intersection between trade and Global Governance in uncertain times. Importantly, the participants also considered the perspectives from different global regions, including China, Europe, the United States and Africa.
With regards to trade, the panelists agreed that over the past few decades, both the volume and complexity of global trade have risen exponentially, with greater levels of liberalization, the rise of new trading powers, and advances in technology. Above all Miles Kahler argued that in recent years, increasing political contestation, a turn toward protectionism by major economic powers, and roadblocks at the multilateral level have put enormous pressure on the global trade regime. The general sentiment of the The 1st GLOBE Progress Meeting was that the current debate surrounding the deep complexity of Global Governance is undoubtedly reshaping the global trading system.
The 1st GLOBE Progress Meeting ended with the gathering of the Coordination Team (CT), where positive exchanges were made about the progress of the GLOBE and the productivity of the meeting in Leuven.