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Comprehending global governance: International regime complexity vs. global constitutionalism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2020

KAREN J. ALTER Open the ORCID record for KAREN J. ALTER [Opens in a new window]
KAREN J. ALTER*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Northwestern University, Scott Hall, 601 University Place, Evanston, IL60208, USA.
*
Email: kalter@northwestern.edu
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Abstract

The After Fragmentation special issue unites political science conversations about regime complexity with legal/normative conversations about global constitutionalism through a focus on the generation and resolution of interface conflicts, defined as moments when overlapping elements or rule incompatibilities generate actual conflicts. Yet scholars choosing among these two perspectives actually have different objectives. After reviewing the two literatures, I argue that this special issue is closer to the global constitutionalism perspective, which generally seeks legitimated order. By contrast, the regime complexity literature asks how does the fact that global governance is spread across multiple institutions in itself shape cooperation politics. Investigating what it means to get ‘beyond fragmentation’, I suggest that the potential or actuality of rule conflicts is not necessarily a problem because conflicts are a normal and even salutary aspect of politics. If conflict is not the concern, then what should we be worrying about? Both perspectives, I argue, are amoral because they normalise and help justify an international order where responsibility is spread across institutions, promoting order while failing to address fundamental problems affecting people and the world. In this respect, resolving rule conflicts does not get us beyond fragmentation.

Keywords

fragmentationglobal constitutionalismglobal governanceinternational lawregime complexity
Type
Special Issue: After Fragmentation
Information
Global Constitutionalism , Volume 9 , Issue 2 , July 2020 , pp. 413 - 423
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

Karen J. Alter is the Lady Board of Managers of the Colombian Exposition Professor of Political Science and Law at Northwestern University, and a permanent visiting professor at iCourts, the Danish National Research Foundation’s Centre of Excellence for International Courts. Thanks to Jeffrey Dunoff, Kal Raustiala, Oliver Westwinter, Mette Eilstrup and Christian Kreuder-Sonner for their helpful feedback on this article.

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