Governing Global Challenges

We are interested in examining how political institutions, societies, and international organizations respond to complex transnational problems. We study how global challenges such as inequality, violent conflict, migration, climate change, and technological transformation reshape political institutions, public attitudes, and patterns of governance. Our research focuses on the political processes through which these challenges are addressed across local, national, and international levels, and on the conditions under which cooperation, resilience, and effective governance emerge.

Rearview shot of a crowd protesting outside a public building. — Photo: Colourbox

Affiliation

About the research group

Research focus

The group investigates the politics and governance of global challenges through several complementary perspectives. In particular, we study:

· the emergence and evolution of global governance institutions

· the interaction between international policy frameworks and domestic politics

· political behavior and public attitudes toward global challenges

· the local consequences of global crises, including conflict, displacement, and economic shocks

· the role of institutions and social norms in shaping cooperation, trust, and collective action

Our research combines theoretical perspectives from international relations, comparative politics, and public policy with a wide range of methodological approaches, including comparative case studies, survey research, experiments, and field-based research.

Key research questions

Members of the group address questions such as:

· How do international governance regimes emerge and adapt to new global challenges?

· How do global crises reshape political institutions and patterns of governance?

· How do citizens respond to major societal disruptions such as conflict, displacement, or economic shocks?

· What institutional arrangements promote cooperation and resilience in the face of complex global problems?

Activities

The group hosts the seminar series Global Politics: Emerging Trends and Debates, which brings together scholars working on global governance, international politics, and public policy. The seminars provide a forum for discussing new research and fostering collaboration across departments and disciplines. The series is open to faculty members, postdoctoral researchers, PhD candidates, and students interested in global politics and governance.

For students

The research group provides a forum for students interested in global politics and the governance of major societal challenges. Bachelor’s and master’s students working on related topics are encouraged to attend the Global Politics: Emerging Trends and Debates seminar series and engage with ongoing research in the group.

Members of the group supervise BA and MA theses on topics related to global governance, democratic development, international politics, conflict, migration, development, and public policy. Students interested in writing a thesis within these areas are welcome to contact group members to discuss potential research questions.

Projects

Autocratization Dynamics: Innovations in Research-Embedded Learning

Autocratization Dynamics aims to position UiB-CMI LawTransform as a global leader in law and politics research and education. Partnering with top institutions worldwide, the project will explore the effects of autocratization and develop innovative, student-driven courses. The goal is to educate students as critical knowledge producers and to leverage LawTransform's expertise in interdisciplinary and international collaboration.

Read more about the project here.

WarEffects

In this project led by Carlo Koos, they explore how, and under what conditions violence in civil wars affects women's empowerment in particular and gender relations more broadly at the subnational and individual level. Empirically, we will combine survey experiments, archival data, GIS, and qualitative field research in Colombia, DR Congo, and Sri Lanka. Our goal is to significantly advance knowledge at the intersection of peace and conflict research, gender studies, and development economics. Read more about the project here.

Decolonizing Epistemologies: Disciplines and the University in Relation to the Society and the World (NORDHED II)

This project led by Lise Rakner, is a collaboration between UiB's Department of Government and Makerere Institute of Social Research (MISR) in Uganda. It aims to build the intellectual and infrastructural capacity of MISR's interdisciplinary MPhil/PhD program and launch a research agenda on decolonizing epistemologies. The NORHED II project continues a long-term cooperation, focusing on transforming higher education and exploring the relationship between locality and universality.

Breaking BAD (Concluded)

African countries are clamping down on democracy, adopting legal restrictions on key civil and political rights that form the basis of democratic rule, including freedoms of association, speech, and information; the ability to choose political leaders; rule of law with recourse to independent courts; and rights and freedoms related to reproduction and family life, gender equality, sexual orientation and gender identity. Domestically, the restrictions privilege some social groups at the expense of other groups, increasing social and economic inequalities and contributing to social unrest and outward migration. Internationally, the African democratic backlash challenges global actors who have pressured developing countries to politically liberalize in the post-Cold War period. Yet, we have insufficient understanding of why this democratic backlash is happening, what the implications are, and which responses are effective under different conditions.

The point of departure of the project is that the backlash is not uniform in terms of what elements of democracy is under pressure, where it is under pressure, how it is under pressure and when this pressure matters. We therefore adopt a disaggregated approach to democracy and a multi method approach.