Redefining Global Governance: A tax, trade and investment perspective in the EU and beyond

Over the last decade, global governance has increased in importance in international tax and investment policymaking, maybe catching up with the trade regime where global governance has been important for a longer period already. Yet, what global governance should ideally achieve, how it should work, and how it should coexist with decision-making at other levels is contested. From the academic side, many analytical perspectives are competing.

We therefore see a need for a systematic review of what global governance means, to discover lessons to be learned across tax, trade and investment to improve it, and to study the role different actors (e.g. IOs, EU, individual countries, etc.) play in global governance across the three areas. A particular challenge that we would like to focus on is the representation of developing countries’ voices and interests in international organizations.

This workshop will bring together scholars from an array of geographical areas, academic perspectives, and disciplines, and by providing this rare opportunity for collaboration among experts with distinct points of departure, hopes to make a significant contribution to understanding what global governance means.

It will be considered a success if it helps the participants to develop an evaluation framework for global governance in tax, trade and investment which will help illuminate how global governance could be improved. Elaborating such an evaluation framework over the course of the week will provide the participants with the tools for continuing their research with an interdisciplinary perspective, which is expected to lead to further collaboration and elucidation of this area of study. The comparative and international approach we propose should increase the impact and results that follow.