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This Element develops a new Strategic Capabilities Framework for studying and steering complex socio-ecological systems. It is driven by the central question of what are the most essential capabilities that ought to be fostered for addressing the fundamental 21st Century environmental challenges and Earth system transformations. The author's objective is to innovate transformative ideas toward better climate and ocean governance that are of interest both to academics and policymakers in the field. Rather than investigating the design and effectiveness of institutions in governing the climate and the oceans, the authors offer an alternative approach starting from the assumption that global governance arrangements must be informed by the capabilities of the communities affected. This Element aims to offer out-of-the-box thinking about capabilities-focused and community-centered frameworks that align multi-level systems of governance with the fundamental challenges of global environmental change. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

"Western liberal order is in a protracted process of transition. There is no new hegemon willing or able to replace the United States and to push for a redesign of the global governance architecture from scratch. Emerging powers engage in global cooperation in their own way and on their own terms. While there seems to be a growing demand for effective global cooperation, there are no longer universally applicable concepts to analyze it nor a common language with which to describe it. Effective Multilateralism makes the case for a new approach in order to understand and explain global cooperation and collective action juxtaposing the European concept of effective multilateralism with the empirical reality of regional cooperation in East Asia. The careful examination of East Asian cases leads to a better understanding of the scope conditions of analytical frameworks of multilateralism"--

This article develops the argument that informal institutions-'G-x groupings', 'contact groups', 'core groups'-provide a vital space to renegotiate the terms and conditions of US hegemony. With the global balance of power shifting, US hegemony today is no longer seen as the exclusive framework to solve urgent collective action problems-major armed conflict, nuclear non-proliferation, climate change, global financial stability. These problems are of global significance and litmus tests for two key properties of US hegemonic power: the ability to maintain order and to provide public goods. As the global financial crisis of 2008 has demonstrated, emerging powers consider US hegemony as part of the problem rather than the framework through which to develop solutions. The substantial challenges for liberal institutions to adapt to major shifts in the global distribution of power and to act as effective problem-solvers has led to growing recourse to alternative mechanisms of collective action that operate in and around the liberal institutional architecture. However, they are not the convenient support structure for the renegotiation of Western liberal order on exclusive US terms. Informal institutions are platforms for contestation with an open outcome. Contestation includes the possibility of developing new patterns and understandings that may ultimately replace Western liberal order. The social contract between hegemonic leader and followers can be revoked. The contract will be up for termination if there is a widely shared belief that the hegemon fails to deliver sufficient public goods and proves to be incapable of performing its system maintenance functions.

International cooperation is criticized by emerging powers as too Western-centric. Western powers themselves are equally critical of international cooperation for failing adequately to harness emerging powers. Existing theories of cooperation assume a stable geo-political order, led by countries with a shared conception of the scope and modalities of global cooperation. These assumptions are no longer justified. 'Western liberal order' is in a protracted process of transition. However, there is no new hegemon that would be able (or willing) to replace the United States and to push for a redesign of the global governance architecture from scratch. Emerging powers are engaging in global cooperation in their own way and on their own terms. In sum, while there seems to be a growing demand for effective global cooperation, there are no longer universally applicable concepts to analyze it nor a common language with which to describe it. This paper looks at the changing structural conditions of international cooperation in a period of order transition by examining the dynamics between emerging countries and G-x groups. It develops the argument that G-x groupings offer platforms to renegotiate the underlying constitutional bargain of the Western liberal order. The huge asymmetries of power in the post-Cold War international system and the substantial (structural) challenges of the Western liberal order has led to growing recourse to informal institutions. They have come to play a range of critical roles and occupy a vital space between multilateral governance on the one hand and traditional major power diplomacy on the other. This paper develops an analytical framework able to explain the changing nature of cooperation under power transition. Adapted from the source document.

Der Verfasser schildert die historischen Rahmenbedingungen der Entstehung der Vereinten Nationen (VN), um die Entscheidungsstrukturen des UN-Systems zu erläutern. Er kennzeichnet das UN-System als eine Art 'lose Konföderation' einzelner Organisationen, Institutionen und Programme. Vor diesem Hintergrund wird das UN-System aus Governance-Sicht analysiert. Er wird gezeigt, dass Governance im Sicherheitsrat der VN sowohl den formellen Entscheidungsprozess sowie die Praxis der Entscheidungsfindung durch informelle Konsultationen erfasst, und argumentiert, dass Effizienz und Effektivität der VN durch eine Vielfalt struktureller Defizite beeinträchtigt sind. Die Zunahme informeller Staatengruppen nach der Zusammenbruch des bipolaren Systems wird als Reaktion auf die gestiegenen Herausforderungen an die VN und auf ihre begrenzten Problemlösungskapazitäten dargestellt. Die Tätigkeit des Wirtschafts- und Sozialrats, die Konfliktprävention als Querschnittsaufgabe, die friedensunterstützenden Operationen sowie die Zusammenarbeit mit (sub-)regionalen Organisationen werden als einzelne Fallstudien zum Thema 'Entscheidungsfindung' präsentiert. (ICG)