Humanity and nature are on the verge of multiple global tipping points, where small changes can lead to large, possibly irreversible shifts in our planetary system. The risks range from biodiversity collapse and catastrophic climate change to the breakout of rogue AI and disruption of the international rule of law. We are facing multiple worldwide emergencies all at once.
The scale of these problems and our collective inability to address them effectively demonstrate how our current systems for global problem solving need to change.
Founded in 1945, the United Nations was originally created to promote peace across the globe and prevent a third world war. While it has succeeded in that goal, article 2 of the UN Charter called for an equality of all nations, with the expectation that the UN system would evolve into a more democratic institution capable of managing many global affairs, including the “common heritage of humanity.” Unfortunately, this goal has yet to be realized, with all major proposals to upgrade the UN system facing vetoes in the UN Security Council. Some countries do not want to cede power to others, even when it may benefit the whole.
As younger generations observe, the systems of statecraft that were created to solve the problems of the 20th century do not stand up to the needs of the 21st. The time has come to face these shortcomings and design a better global governance system with younger and older generations working together to ensure systemic change.
Every crisis contains a seed of opportunity. The current moment is no exception: it has awoken people everywhere to recognize that our existing structures urgently need updating. Can we meet this moment by thinking bigger, more boldly, and more inclusively? Can new concepts and new political frames help bypass the nation-state obstacles of the past? Can the next generation of philanthropies help to drive a shift?
3.1 – What are the Global Commons?
The global commons refers to natural resource domains that lie outside the political reach of any one nation-state and are considered shared resources for all of humanity. They are areas or systems that everyone relies on but no one owns outright. In her book, Governing the Commons, Dr. Elinor Ostrom recognized the need for governance, explaining that rules, defined boundaries, collective-choice arrangements, and conflict resolution mechanisms were essential for sustainable use of the commons. Sustainability is the key.
Human activity is accelerating global environmental change in the Anthropocene. The Earth system – defined as the planet’s interconnected physical, chemical, and biological processes – is becoming increasingly unstable and susceptible to severe disruption. Many of the processes that together maintain a stable Earth system have experienced significant shifts, with six out of nine planetary boundaries now breached. Several major components, known as tipping elements, could soon enter rapid, self-reinforcing, and potentially irreversible change.
In response, we urgently need to manage the global commons sustainably, to ensure the stability of critical Earth system functions beyond the constraints of national jurisdictions.
This should be feasible given our modern communication and financial management technologies. Facing this unmet need compels us to consider opportunities in global governance, augmenting multilateral systems like the UN, and extending toward systems of world law. Is such an approach possible?
As scholars of science and geopolitics, and as stewards of investment and philanthropic strategies, the authors of this paper consider the history of select global issues and strategies to solve them through global governance innovation and reform.
These approaches, generally overlooked, may unlock the necessary solutions to our most urgent challenges, which are proving intractable otherwise.
3.2 – Global Governance and the Subsidiarity Principle
Global governance of the global commons is essential, but global governance does not mean global government for everything. Subsidiarity remains central: the principle that local decisions are best made by local people, for most issues. There’s no need for global participation in neighborhood zoning decisions, for example. The principle has a long history in Catholic social teaching and is a fundamental part of European Union law.
While countries typically resist some kinds of international governance, they usually welcome shared governance of issues that extend beyond their national borders.
3.3 – Tackling Global Issues
Transnational issues are problems that cross national borders and cannot be solved by any single country alone. There is a long history of treaties, conventions and international organizations that have been created to address them, such as the many UN agencies. This paper explores select transnational issues, considers historic attempts to address them, and proposes new strategies for the future.
We start by examining risks to the biosphere, including climate change, tropical deforestation, and ocean pollution. Then we consider preventing international conflict with a focus on Ukraine, Palestine, Taiwan, and nuclear non-proliferation. We also explore global taxation, transnational organized crime and corruption, AI governance, pandemic prevention, refugee management, and regulation of outer space activities, among other issues. We conclude by exploring opportunities for global governance innovation.
The evidence is clear. Global challenges need global solutions.
While most issues we examine are under-managed at the global level, there have been some global governance successes. The Montreal Protocol successfully lowered emissions of chlorofluorocarbons. The International Court of Justice has effectively adjudicated border disputes, maritime conflicts and other issues. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers has successfully managed Internet affairs in transparent and democratic ways. The International Campaign to Ban Land Mines (ICBL) succeeded in its goal, in a prime example of citizen mobilization and civic participation at a global level.
New campaigns for sound Earth governance to manage global risks, like the International Anti-Corruption Court (IACC). draw strategic inspiration from the methods that made the ICBL successful. Such campaigns employ “smart coalition” techniques of civil society movements and like-minded states working together to achieve significant transformations in the international system.
There is hope.
3.4 – Innovation
While the prevailing analysis of global governance reform has long tended toward skepticism, the authors of this paper suggest the field and the time are now ripe for innovation.
The architecture of the global financial system could offer a simple mechanism for revenue generation and regulatory oversight. Funded through transaction fees or interest payments, a global commons fund could finance nature-based solutions, refugee resettlement, and other global solutions. Socially minded consumers could lead adoption, as they have historically through campaigns like Product Red and its companion American Express Red credit card. Global citizenship education and celebration efforts could accelerate it further.
With the rise of Bitcoin and Ethereum, the development of global currencies seems inevitable, and could open a pathway to redesigning systems of global cooperation, policy development and enforcement. The development of new technologies that facilitate mass participation may make the concept of global, participatory governance viable for the first time in human history. Whereas trade liberalization has facilitated offshoring and inspired the anti-globalization movement in the past, new mass participation efforts might be able to foster new agreements that work for everyone today.
There have been numerous historic efforts to innovate global governance, ranging from the World Federalist Movement of the 1940s to proposals for “network states” today. Although previous efforts stalled in very different contexts in years past, global governance transformation is in the zeitgeist today.
Political, corporate, and philanthropic leadership will be key.
Philanthropists are needed to provide seed funding for a global governance redesign. Investors and policy makers are needed to help incentivize economic trends towards greater global cooperation. Corporate CEOs and entrepreneurs are needed to guide the markets toward greater interdependence and develop the business opportunities that arise as a result. And social movements are needed to expand the Overton window and build the base of support that makes the whole vision feasible.
Is it possible? To find out, join us for a journey through the history and future of the global commons and global governance with special consideration of the philanthropic sector and its role. The concept of global citizenship today is an idea whose time has come.