Global public policy: governing without government?

Abstract

During the last decade has become a fashion among policymakers and academics alike. Not one day passes during which the term is not being invoked to legitimize a policy decision, promote a policy prescription, or explain a policy outcome. Despite its frequent use, however, little is known about globalization and its effects. In this pathbreaking new book, Wolfgang Reinicke provides an in-depth analysis of economic globalization and examines its implications for public policy. National responses, as suggested on both ends of the political spectrum in the United States and elsewhere, are often flawed. Global public policy--not world government, but a mixed approach to global management in which states, corporations, NGOs, regional and international organizations, and coalitions cooperate--provides an alternative and promising framework. Using four case studies--global banking, money laundering, dual-use export controls, and trade in chemical precursors--the book develops the concept of global public policy and shows how its principles have the potential to improve the capacities of policymakers to deal with the challenges of the 21st century.