ABSTRACT
Globalization has opened up new fields of political conflicts in an emerging arena of global politics that can be characterized as a global public domain, in which various actors assert their claims, defend their interests, debate rules and policies, contest truths, and construct norms. Social and political institution building proceeded as a co-evolutionary process with nation-building. The development of transnational health policies can be seen as co-evolving with other institutions demanded by a global society. Due to a growing global interdependence and the greater role of transnational communities in politics, globalization has brought an increasing awareness of conflicts and social problems linked to the inequality of global development. The role of national public institutions as the primary setters of binding rules and authoritative decision-making might weaken over time, and the implementation of norms in the transnational space might depend for a longer period on voluntary, legally unenforceable forms of cooperation between business and civil society actors.
