ABSTRACT
Reacting to the meltdown of the American financial system, Alistair Darling – the former British Chancellor of the Exchequer – pointed out that “just as one government alone cannot combat global terrorism, just as one government alone cannot combat climate change, so one government alone cannot deal with the consequences of globalization” (cited in Phillips 2008). Darling’s call for enhanced regulation of the global financial system makes perfect economic sense. Yet it also makes the tepid political reaction to his postulate rather difficult to comprehend. In fact, it highlights a question that has persistently beleaguered studies of global governance: why is the world so difficult to govern? Whether we speak about the current global financial crisis, the contested terrain of collective security under the United Nations’ authority (United Nations 2004), the tortuous and drawn out process of inducing corporate change through identifying and promoting good practices (Ruggie 2001), the heated debate on whether and how to ensure global environmental sustainability (Barr 2008), or the disputed collective responsibility to create a global environment conducive to the advancement of human rights (Salomon 2007), the reaction of the world society is virtually the same: outward excitement in favor of debating the issue usually followed by apathy on the decision-making and implementation side.
