ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that core global governance tasks connected to the protection of liberty – global distribution, regulation or administration – should not be assigned to them. Drawing from neo-republican theory, the chapter contends such actors fall short of the formal criteria that are necessary for constituting a global public actor, because they do not have a global function and orientation. It expects only those global actors that are more properly speaking public in nature – such as the global institutions of the United Nations (UN) system – to dedicate themselves to protecting individual liberty. The chapter also argues that actors such as international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and corporations fall short of the formal criteria that are necessary for constituting a global public actor. Private global actors such as NGOs and corporations may not be the optimal 'global governors', but the global actors that are public often fail to perform this function well and/or effectively.
