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Policies and Processes of Transnational Governance (STG-MA-FCR-PPT)

STG-MA-FCR-PPT

Description

Transnational governance – TNG – is a rapidly evolving domain of public service and policy practice with numerous actors.  Civil servants are increasingly being asked to interact with their official counterparts in the state architecture of other countries. They also work with officials within international organizations, global civil society and multinational corporations. The governance work of these actors is ‘beyond the state’.
Policies and Processes of Transnational Governance is a ‘foundation course’ that covers a wide range of topics. It is introductory and the groundwork for your progression into more specialized courses in Year Two. 
This course will introduce and evaluate the actors, policy dynamics and ideas that go ‘beyond the nation-state’ framework of traditional policy studies. It begins by examining theories and frames of transnational governance. It will then proceed to identify, exemplify, and analyse some of the actors in, and different mechanisms of, contemporary transnational governance.  That is, the ‘nuts and bolts’ of TNG.  Coverage includes:

• Tools and mechanisms of ‘trans-governmentalism’, ‘transnational administration’ and ‘global policy’
• How local, city and national government actors and agencies have become inter-nationalised policy actors
• Key ideas and concepts – inter alia, policy transfer, governance networks, global social policy, planetary thinking – that are operationalised by governments and international organizations for TNG.
• Processes and structures that bring in private actors and informal procedures to TNG.

Transnational governance differs from the governing practices of sovereign nation-states. Knowing how allows us to understand the diversity, and often experimental character, of transnational governance. However, there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to transnational governance.  There is no ‘map’. 
This course aims to provide participants with an understanding of the various actors in different processes of transnational governance. Unlike national governance – which is often marked by hierarchical (bureaucratic) structures and clear lines of authority – transnational governance is multi-actor, often informal and can be un-coordinated with power dispersed very unevenly in these multi-scalar contexts. Some interests, groups and communities are excluded from TNG.
The seminar is organized around four dynamics of transnational policy activity:

• State: inter-state collaboration of government actors (in cross-national networks of legislators, judges and regulators). For example, the growth of city networks and local government cross-national collaboration. Transgovernmentalism 1;
• International Organization: Joint activity of public sector officials and international civil servants for multi-level policy coordination. For example, international organisations (IOs) like the EU, ASEAN, the World Bank, etc collaborating with national government agencies or other IOs. Transgovernmentalism 2;
• Hybrid governance: Alliances across the public-private divide.  Official actors in governments and IOs build formal and informal partnerships with private actors in business and civil society, including expert groups.
• Non-State policy initiatives emerging from civil society or the corporate world and business: For example, the role of private regimes establishing soft law and regulatory standards.

The course draws upon the fields of development studies, international relations (IR), political geography, public administration, policy studies, and sociology. 
The goals of Policies and Processes of Transnational Governance are to:

• familiarize participants with the necessary background knowledge and some of the conceptual frameworks to analyse global policy challenges;
• provide participants with an understanding of the breadth of transnational governance in both theory and practice, of the non-linear evolution of these forms of governance, and of the numerous actors involved;
• provide relevant background knowledge about TNG across time and space, and policy sector. 
• put participants in a position to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of approaches to TNG;
• equip participants with the intellectual tools and practical insights to understand the complexity of transnational problems and the diversity of (sometimes conflicting) policy solutions; 

enable participants to articulate independent, critical and theoretically informed arguments about governance while also helping develop writing and oral communication skills.