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Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam - University of Bremen - Freie Universität Berlin - London School of Economics and Political Science - Lund University - Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research - Oldenburg University - Science Po Bordeaux - Wageningen University - Fridtjof Nansen Institute - Vrije Universiteit Brussel VUB -

SENSE PhD Training School


The 2011 PhD Training School on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change: Earth System Governance was held at the Institute for Environmental Studies, VU University Amsterdam, on 26-29 September 2011.

The lecture slides from the event can be found here.

New Working Papers

The latest (downloadable) Global Governance Working Papers:

>> All working papers

About the project

The Global Governance Project (Glogov.org) is a joint research programme of thirteen European research institutions that seeks to advance understanding of the new actors, institutions and mechanisms of global governance. While we address the phenomenon of global governance in general, most of our research projects focus on global environmental change and governance for sustainable development.

The Global Governance Project is co-ordinated by the Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM) of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and includes associate faculty members and research fellows from thirteen European institutions: Science Po Bordeaux, University of Bremen, Freie Universität Berlin (Environmental Policy Research Centre), German Development Institute, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID) Geneva, London School of Economics and Political Science, Lund University, Oldenburg University, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Fridtjof Nansen Institute, and Wageningen University. The Project was created in 2001 with the endorsement of the Institutional Dimensions core project of the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP).

Analytically, we define global governance by three criteria, which also shape the research groups within the Project.

First, we see global governance as characterised by the increasing participation of actors other than states, ranging from private actors such as multinational corporations and (networks of) scientists and environmentalists to intergovernmental organisations ('multiactor governance'). These new actors of global governance are the focus of our research group Manus-Managers of Global Change.

Second, we see global governance as marked by new mechanisms of organisation such as public-private and private-private partnerships, alongside the traditional system of legal treaties negotiated by states. This is the focus of our research group Mecglo-New Mechanisms of Global Governance.

Third, we see global governance as characterised by different layers and clusters of rule-making and rule-implementation, both vertically between supranational, international, national and subnational layers of authority ('multilevel governance') and horizontally between different parallel rule-making systems. This stands at the centre of our research group Mosaic-'Multiple Options, Solutions and Approaches: Institutional Interplay and Conflict'.

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Joint research programme

Glogov.org is a joint research programme of the:

New Special Section


Special Section on "Earth System Governance: Accountability and Legitimacy" in Ecological Economics. Guest edited by Frank Biermann and Aarti Gupta.

New Special Issue


Special Issue on "Agency in Earth System Governance" in International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics. Guest edited by Philipp Pattberg, Michele Betsill and Eleni Dellas.

GLOGOV Publications

A list of books published by team members of the Global Governance Project can be found here.

A list of downloadable publications by team members can be found here.