How Global Institutions Rule the World [Paperback]

This book reviews bureau-type organizations delivering network goods, documenting how most global institutions greatly improved their effectiveness during the last few decades. In the current globalized world, the design and choice of appropriate institutional rules and procedures can result in effective and democratic global government.Introduction 1. World Government is Here PART I: WHO RULES 2. Network Goods are Served by Simple Bureaus 3. Unanimity Rule Failed to Make the World More Secure 4. A Great-Powers' Directorate Has Averted the Third World War 5. Weights and Coalitions for Finance and Development 6. Equal Vote Does Not Favor Global Trade 7. The World's Self-Appointed Steering Committee PART II: HOW THEY RULE 8. Domestic Politics Doesn't Make Policy 9. Global Representation Requires Rotation of Countries 10. Effective Decisions are Made by Means of Weighted Votes 11. Expert Rulers Replace Politicians and Diplomats 12. Policy Consensus is Built With More Ideas than Votes 13. Non-Electoral Accountability is Based On Performance and Values 14. Can Global Democracy Exist

Josep M. Colomer is Research Professor in Political Economy at Georgetown University, USA. Colomer is a life member of the American Political Science Association and a member by election of the Academy of Europe.

What is democracy if nationalgovernments must bow to specialized global agencies? Colomer superblydemonstrates that we already face faceless dispersed regulation that is evenstronger than a unified 'world government' would be. And he offers intriguinginsights into what this means for the world's democratic institutions.  (Rein Taagepera, Professor of PoliticalScience, University of California - Irvine, USA)