Cedric Dupont

Cedric Dupont

I am a Professor of International Relations/Political Science and Director of Executive Education at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland.

Location Geneva - Switzerland

Activity

  • @RichardDennehy
    Dear Richard,
    Well taken point: the PD game captures only a limited of international relations issues and international law has importance beyond the set of those issues. But the PD has attracted so much attention because of the need for a constraining mechanism (including monitoring and sanctioning) to prevent the players to choose a...

  • Thank you for your comments!

  • Belated congratulations for the long list of examples that you have provided! I would simply highlight that some of the examples could be classified under the heading of intergovernmental international organisations (for instance development banks) than partnerships with different stakeholders. It is true, however, that such organisations have tended to...

  • Dear all,
    Thank you for your active participation and interesting discussions! Looking forward to next week!

  • Dear Graham,
    Our daily life is indeed full of logos. The idea here is to focus on those that indicate a standard rather than a firm. On the Iphone besides the famous Apple, there are several certification symbols on the back of it, of course in small print!
    Cédric

  • Dera both,
    What about https pages?
    Cédric

  • Dear Sue,
    Thank you for letting us know and apologies for the trouble! We will fix this problem asap.
    Cédric

  • Thank you for your examples! As you have probably realized, the border between hard law and soft law is often quite fuzzy!

  • In response to the question about "civilized nations," the intention was to consider general principles recognised by most existing legal systems with the exclusion of those based on a "primitive" conception of law, that is, fully discretionary. So the term refers to most countries, not to only a few.

  • The three dimensions are used to distinguish regulatory instruments from hard law to soft law. So instead of having a black and white picture, you get a picture with a range of nuances. Delegation can be of different sorts and indeed delegation to bureaucrats is one sort.
    In terms of reading, I would recommend that you begin with the special issue of the...

  • A vivid discussion! None of us has the answer but it is clear that there is a time of turbulence for nation states. What is probably unique to is the combination of global integration and pressure for national responses. Nationalism is not new but it never happened in such an open international context. And thus we cannot rely on history for anticipating the...

  • Thank you to all for your examples that illustrate, if need be, the diversity of existing partnerships!

  • Correct. Any agreement at any summit will have to get endorsed at the domestic level (by government, Parliament or people) if it has legal implications for the signatories.

  • Dear all,
    Thank you for your reactions! The key difference between what Arancha Gonzalez labels deal-based and rule-based governance is the ad-hoc nature of the former and the institutionalized nature of the latter. In the deal-based logic of governance, states govern trade via specific deals when they need them, whereas in the rule-based governance they...

  • Welcome to all! Looking forward to reading your views throughout the course!

  • Cedric Dupont made a comment

    Thank you! I very much appreciated your commitment to this course and your very constructive and positive attitude!

  • Dear Michael,
    Well taken point (one more I should add as your contribution to this course has been quite impressive!). This has been a long standing issue at the national level, particularly in domains such as banking or finance where the pay gap between the public and the private is very significant. This being said, I am not sure that I would share your...

  • Dear Karin,
    Regarding question 1, have a look at the board composition of GAVI, which is an example of multi-stakeholder cooperation (http://www.gavi.org/about/governance/gavi-board/members/#)
    Regarding question 2, the idea is that through GAVI private companies can secure markets on which they will be able to sell the outcome of costly research because GAVI...

  • Thank you for this Richard! Food safety in the EU is another very interesting construction, one that also has limits as illustrated during the E-coli crisis in Spring 2011.

  • Dear Denis,
    Very challenging questions!
    On the first one, I would be tempted to say that international action will remain in the domain of soft regulation (if anything happens) as there is for the moment absolutely no appetite for binding action. It is fair to notice, also, that action at the national level is for the moment very hard to anticipate as there...

  • Dear Karin,
    The four types of interdependence are illustrated across the different pieces of information during week 2. For instance, the discussion on SDGs and desertification highlight the interdependence between different policy domains (for instance, hunger and environment; land preservation and economic growth) as well as between different territories...

  • As some of you pointed out, it is indeed a difficult question! Answering it is extremely challenging as we are facing a situation with no significant historical precedent. Furthermore, there are many open questions regarding the impact of the so-called "fourth industrial revolution" (Klaus Schwab from the WEF) on governance. For instance, what will be the role...

  • I fully agree with the need to put the discussion in different geographic and cultural contexts. In Africa, the "nation" dimension has often been missing in the nation state equation so to speak. This being said, the external dynamics affecting the ability of the state to deliver services and goods to the population applies to African states, too. And this has...

  • @ChrisPeeters
    I am sorry that you have this feeling but I hope that by then end of the course you will have a different opinion. In any case, thank you for sharing your view and your questions. Regarding those, I would like to emphasize the multidimensionality of the word "intervention." One can always find some sort of intervention by an international...

  • Dear both,
    Thank you for your reactions. As you may have noticed, videos are designed to be very short in this course and surely not aiming at getting into the level of details that you would like. The articles in the next steps address some of your points, yet not all.

  • A great series of examples! They do reveal that there have been many innovative initiatives to address some of the most pressing problems facing the world today. They also reveal the need to tailor those initiatives to the specificity of the problems to be addressed.

  • Thank you for those insightful comments! One cannot clearly expect the SDGs to be achieved by 2030 even if international cooperation works relatively well. But the point of this case study is to showcase the need for collaborative action at all levels (international, national, local) and across different domains and sectors.

  • Thank you for your interesting and well-taken comments! As several of you pointed out, the key element behind the dichotomy used by Arancha Gonzalez is the idea of predictability and continuity that she sees behind a rules-based system. This does not mean, however, that deals do not produce rules but those rules tend to be more specific (in terms of...

  • Welcome everyone!
    I am looking forward to exchanging with you during this online course on global governance at a time when there is significant contestation for its need!

  • Cedric Dupont made a comment

    Thank you for your reactions and your active participation the course! It has been a very interesting and enriching journey! We will not only remember the positive views but will also carefully think through points to be improved, whether in the material, in quizzes or in our participation in the discussions.

  • Thank you for your views! The main dilemma here is about the limits of combining different types of regulatory instruments. Is the sky the limit? Or do we know about combinations that work better than others? Research has not produced any solid evidence to address those questions and one may wonder whether this will ever be the case given the subjective nature...

  • Thank you for a series of well-taken points! Regarding possible conflicts of rules, the situation would be particularly problematic in case of internationally legally binding rules that oblige governments or firms to act in different directions, i.e. allow for unions or forbid them. We are not (yet?) in such a situation but concern is with the possible...

  • Interesting reactions on the specific example of GAVI! Three points: a) It is an international organisation, not a firm, and it is not oriented toward generating profit; b) it justifies its existence, so to speak, by its results, that is, the immunisation of an increasing number of people from a series of killing diseases; this is what we call output...

  • Interesting contributions on a sensitive issue! One central point of the case study is that blending may have expected and unexpected consequences. And it does, as several of you pointed out, raise issues of legitimacy and accountability when states are not the only sources of regulatory instruments.

  • Thank you for your comments! There is obviously difference in appreciation of my use of analogy here. It is focused on the combination of different types of regulatory instruments, combination that varies significantly across domains -- trade, finance, health, migration, environment or labour. Does this mean that the regulatory framework is better in one of...

  • Andrew,
    Thank you for your views. There are many points in your comments that triggered the discussion. I am addressing the blending dimensions here. First, some of the most prestigious, and most expensive, wines are blends, and this has been the case for more than one century. So blends for the poor only or mass production? Second, the claim that...

  • Loretta,
    I am afraid that you are getting beyond the acceptable in a learning environment. You can do the quizz, which obviously you did not like in the previous week, or skip it. Another option is to drop the course if you think that it is not up to your standards.

  • Interesting comments! One way to think about the merits and problems of the IMF is to ask ourselves the counterfactual question: what would have happened if the IMF would not have existed? Or what will happen if the IMF disappears? The members of the Euro zone have tried for several years to avoid calling the IMF to assist them for the case of Greece and...

  • Richard,
    I do not think (but I may be wrong) that most UK citizens that voted in favor of leave had expected that the UK would have to settle a bill of several dozens of billions of pounds. But, more broadly, you cannot be in and out at the same time, and the British industry is becoming increasingly worried about the potential loss of competitiveness that...

  • Thank you Daphne for your comment! To come back to Neil's point, answer 2 is incorrect due to the specific wording of the second part of the statement "very limited legal effects on ALL international actors." The rules and norms may have limited legal effects on powerful governments (yet,look at the behaviour and record of the US within WTO!) but surely not on...

  • Well, beyond the unsolvable issue of several vs many, some stronghold of state power are being eroded by technological developments (think crypto-currency; cyber security among others) and it is unclear when and how this erosion will reach critical tipping point for states. Most likely not in the next 5-10 years but beyond I am really unsure. Hence my use of...

  • In the domains of security and money/finance, traditional stronghold of most states, it is worth noting interesting developments:

    a) The recent effort by Microsoft to push for a Global Cyber Geneva convention may end up being a largely private regulatory initiative that would co-exist with public action at the local level.

    b) the growth of...

  • Very insightful discussions! The puzzling question is clearly about possible alternatives to nation states as key pillars for governance. A world of cities or local communities united through the Kantian notion of cosmopolitan law? Or a multi-layered web of partnerships? Food for thought!

  • Thank you for all those interesting examples! The next frontier in research is a comparative analysis of the very diverse set of partnerships with a focus on their success in meeting their objectives. For many this will raise difficult challenges of measurement, as several of you pointed out. But this should not be an excuse for not trying!

  • But SDGs are currently being introduced in the realm of international finance via impact investing! So change may arrive sooner than one expects!

  • David,
    On measurement, for each goal there is a series of associated targets and for many (not all thought) of those targets there are indicators that will be used to trace progress on the achievement of goals. This does not tell us, however, how beneficial is the achievement of a given goal. On that point, existing research has come up with figures for costs...

  • George,
    Currently states still have a significant power to block collaborative action but their grip has loosened due to globalisation and technological innovations.

  • As several of you pointed out there is not one correct answer but different perceptions of what should be given priority. This is what politics and decision-making is often about!

  • Thank you for your comments and sometimes very stark views on governance! The point that I make at the end of week one is still valid: make sure that you adjust your lenses to see reality as it is not as you wish that it would or should be!

  • Dear Jacqueline, dear Lorretta,
    You may like or dislike the questions but I regret your attitude regarding the quizz.

  • Very vivid discussion on some of the key issues associated with summits, in particular the cost/benefit ratio of these events and the question of transparency /accountability. On the first one, the measurement is particularly difficult on the benefit side as it would require a complex counter-factual analysis to get a solid answer. On the transparency...

  • Very mixed feelings about the word "governance"! But one cannot really understand what is going on in world affairs if one does not accept the messiness often associated with that word in contrast to what most of us are used too, that is, government! In all anticipations of the futures to come, a world government is never part of them and thus we will have to...

  • Glad to read that this seems to be new territory for many of you! And yes standard making is not neutral in terms of costs and benefits as it can strongly shape market dynamics! More on that later in the course!

  • There is a budget but hard to get a hand on it as it is often split between organisations (if the summit is a regular one) and member states.

  • As you rightly point out, there are both winners and losers in fiscal coordination, hence the difficulty to come up with a global response. But the OECD (a club of the developed economies) has taken the lead in pushing for action and this has led to interesting results (such as automatic transmission of bank information).

  • Challenging, but very legitimate, questions! International agreements vary in how they anticipate and handle reneging behaviour by countries but they almost always include a dispute resolution/settlement system. In several treaties, some systems are purely political and addressed in .. summits! Retaliations are sometimes authorised by treaties, but in a very...

  • Very impressive list of examples! In reaction to some of the comments, the purpose is to have you think through the dichotomy (or challenge it) before turning to my article on categories of summits.

  • Very passionate views on this definition! I notice first a willingness by several of you to attach a normative dimension to the definition (positive effects beyond border) and an aversion to think that the definition could apply to malevolent networks. In my view the absence of this normative dimension is actually a strength of that definition. Second, there...

  • I like how you engage with the terms of my discussion with Arancha Gonzalez! Let me react to two issues that seem to come out in many of your comments. First is the deals vs rules idea. As several of you pointed out, the two are not mutuallly exclusive but the point that Arancha Gonzalez wants to make is that rules are about order and predictibility for the...

  • A large set of words, thank you all for your contributions! I do notice a dominance of concepts so far closely associated with a state-view of governance, in particular diplomacy, international law and the united nations. But also words associated with features/values that we would like to associate with governance, for instance, responsibility, peace,...