United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres launched the UN80 Initiative in March 2025. Faced with the US government's increasingly hostile approach to the UN, UN80 was presented as a reform geared towards making the UN system "fit for purpose". However, this policy brief argues that...

The international financial architecture is misaligned with the goals set out in the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris climate agreement. External financing flows to emerging-market and developing countries (excluding China) need be increasing by at least US$1 trillion annually from...

The European Commission, Italy, and Greece are seeking to curb irregular migration through Libya. These efforts come at a time when several aspects of European Union (EU) migration policy in Libya must be acknowledged as having failed. This is particularly true of attempts to improve conditions...

Using archival material from states, international organizations, and business actors, this paper explores how the Association for the Promotion and Protection of Private Foreign Investments (APPI), a transnational business interest association (BIA), liaised with different international...

Since 1971, the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting in Davos has attracted the leadership of global corporations. Attendance may offer economic benefits through networking and political support or provide only private gains without measurable impact. Through creating a novel database of...

Researchers, policymakers and the representatives of international organisations increasingly use the term “social contract” to describe relations between societal groups and a state. The United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, for example, has declared that “now is the time to renew the...

The second Trump administration's tariff regime has triggered a profound transformation of the global trade architecture, extending beyond traditional protectionism to a systematic dismantling of multilateral institutions. This paper examines how the collapse of trust in US trade commitments and...

We review the literature on the political economy of foreign aid, examining the geopolitical returns generated by Official Development Assistance (ODA). Our paper identifies conditions under which donors are able to influence political and economic outcomes in recipient countries, shape their...

The European security order is dysfunctional and particularly affected by the crisis of multilateralism. The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), founded as a forum for promoting cooperative security and standardsbased cooperation, today is an expression of the weakness of...

Economic development in Africa is among the most important global challenges today. Meanwhile, the G7 is under pressure due to system competition and the question of legitimacy and effectiveness. The recent PGII initiative uses investment to improve economic development in Africa. But what about...

Relations between the global North and global South have grown more contentious in recent years. As frustration rises in tandem with global power shifts, the United Nations (UN) has become an arena for the negotiation of a new global governance. Within this framing, the Group of 77 (G77),...

The complex web of challenges confronting humanity - climate change, pandemics, economic inequality, and violent conflict - demands a robust global governance system. However, the current architecture, centred on the United Nations, is widely considered inadequate. This document delves into this...

In June 2022, the Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) published the "Action Agenda on Internal Displacement". It aims to fundamentally reform the way internal displacement is addressed. On the one hand, the focus must shift from short-term humanitarian aid to more development-oriented...

Four decades ago, the main actors in global health were the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the United States of America and Northern European countries (through bilateral cooperation). Today we are witnessing a proliferation of actors in this...

Österreich, und insbesondere die Bundeshauptstadt Wien, ist Sitz zahlreicher Internationaler Organisationen und diplomatischer Vertretungen. In diesen arbeiten mehr als 10.000 internationale Beschäftigte. Auch wenn diese Beschäftigten sowie nicht die gesamte Wertschöpfung in Verbindung mit...

The United Nations General Assembly has taken up Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) twice in the past decade, but the follow-through on commitments and financing of both Global and National Action Plans on AMR have lagged considerably behind the policymaker pronouncements. The need to update the...

We investigate China's influence at the United Nations by focusing on the promotion of its narratives (words) and its voting behaviour (deeds). For the former, we assess the extent to which China's global initiatives have become embedded in UN discourse compared to Western initiatives. For the...

A second presidential term for Donald Trump would undoubtedly have huge impacts on topics in all areas of international relations - topics that are intrinsically relevant to all actors due to the status of the United States as a world power. Trump's political agenda differs considerably from...

Communication professionals working for International Organizations (IOs) are important intermediaries of global governance that increasingly use social media to reach out to citizens directly. Social media pose new challenges for IO public communication, such as a highly competitive economy of...

This book offers a timely and insightful exploration of security exceptions in international trade and investment law, focusing on the growing tension between national security measures and global economic stability. Through in-depth analysis and case studies of major global players, it uncovers...

Why are multinational corporations so powerful and elites so wealthy while still operating within nation-state rules? 'Profit and Power' examines how firms engage in legal transgression, operating at the edges of legality to maximize profits. Offering a practical analysis of jurisdictional...

Terrorism and organised violence are crucially reliant on adequate sources of funding. Blocking those sources has thus become a key goal of national security services in most countries through the world. This is the first book to provide an insider's account of how national security services...