Munk School of Global Affairs University of Toronto TRINITY COLLEGE

Global Order/Disorder: A Multi-National Research Initiative

Contact: Gian Luca Gardini and Ron Pruessen (G.L.Gardini@bath.ac.uk and pruessen@chass.utoronto.ca)

A multi-national, multi-disciplinary collaborate research project co-sponsored by The Canada Centre for Global Security Studies & The Conflict, Security and International Order Research Group, University of Bath

The project was launched at a University of Bath workshop on March 24-25, 2011 – where the initial focus was on delineating and comparing European and Latin American perspectives. 

Participants included:

Ana Covarrubias (Colegio de Mexico)
Philippe De Lombaerde (United Nations University-CRIS, Bruges)
Jorge di Masi (La Plata National University)
Gian Luca Gardini (University of Bath)
Fuat Keyman (Sabanci University)
Anne-Marie Le Gloannec (CERI-Science Po, Paris)
Andrés Malamud (University of Lisbon)
Theo Papadopoulos (University of Bath)
José Raul Perales (George Washington University)
Ronald Pruessen (University of Toronto)
Federico Romero (European University Institute, Florence)
Flavio Sombra Saraiva (UNB, Brasilia)

These participants considered three principal questions as they began their work together:

How are different states and regions assessing shifts in the distribution of power in the global arena?

How have perceptions of "re-centering" or power shifts affected the rationales and dynamics of regional cooperation and institutions?

How significant has a recent global economic crisis been in re-shaping national and regional strategies -- in comparison to any re-thinking prompted by developments unfolding over a decade or more?

Discussions moved in various directions, with some emphasis on more over-arching, essentially theoretical matters counterpointed by attentiveness to more sharply focused, “case study” approaches.

On one hand, for instance, the broad theme of “global order/disorder” prompted consideration of the nature of “power” in the international arena.  How should “power” be measured – and how should we (in turn) measure any shifts taking place in the gauges we use to do the measuring?  How might we “map” the distribution of “power” in the early 21^st century – and how can we compare such a “map” to those that might have been appropriate for earlier times?  Are there more similarities or differences in the “architecture” of power within which power is exercised as we compare “maps” across time: e.g., what are the respective roles of nation states, regional entities, and multilateral/“global” systems as we consider the 19^th and 20^th centuries in comparison to the current environment?

On the other hand, the desire to grapple substantively with questions involving order/disorder or “system” and “power” regularly brought the discussion to specific examples.  We were especially ready to consider an approach that emphasized “readings.”  How do individual nations (e.g., the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Turkey) or regions (“Latin America” and “Europe”) perceive the changes taking place in the global arena of the early 21^st century – and what strategies are being devised for coping with (or taking advantage of) these changes?  As an extension of this line of inquiry, how do scholars “read” (and “map”) the patterns becoming evident in the thoughts and behaviours of nation-states and regions?

One frequent comment in the Bath workshop – demonstrated by this brief summary, in fact – cited the way our initial explorations proved more capable of multiplying questions than providing answers.  In the end, this seemed logical enough for discussions designed to speculate about the desirability of collaborative research that would be both multi-national and multi-disciplinary in nature.  The result of the speculation: there is much we might fruitfully do together.

Examples of the “conceptual papers” prepared by workshop participants can be found here:

 

• “Nothing New But the Same Old Diversity” -- Ana Covarrubias (Centro de Estudios Internacionales, El Colegio de México)
   
• “Turkish Foreign Policy in Global Turmoil” -- E. Fuat Keyman (Istanbul Policy Centre and Sabanci University)
   
• “Many Americas: Too many Solutions?” -- Gian Luca Gardini (University of Bath)
   
• “South America in the last twenty years: From the backyard of the front garden or how to deal with the changes in the world power” -- Jorge Rafael Di Masi (University of La Plata)
   
•  “The United States in a Shifting Global Arena: A Problematic Player in a Volatile Time” – Ronald W. Pruessen (University of Toronto/Munk School of Global Affairs)
   
• “Has the growth of a European regional bloc peaked?” – Federico Romero (European University Institute)
   
• “Brazil Enjoys Playing the International Game: From A Reactive to an Assertive Approach” -- Jose Flavio Sombra Saraiva  (UNB, Brasilia)

 

For further information about the ongoing “Global Order/Disorder” project, contact either of its co-organizers:

Gian Luca Gardini (University of Bath): G.L.Gardini@bath.ac.uk

Ronald W. Pruessen (University of Toronto): pruessen@chass.utoronto.ca