This working group will devote itself to the policy-relevant study of transnational and planetary challenges, conceived of as shared, complex cross-border dilemmas which possess a strong technical and scientific component and which sovereign states and established international institutions are struggling to manage and govern, both individually and collectively. The working group, composed of prominent, globally-representative experts, will focus on four broad categories of challenges, at a moment of great fluidity in each domain:
- Earth system governance, including problems posed by climate change, biodiversity loss, oceans degradation, and environmental pollution
- Digital and other transformative technologies, including the challenges presented by artificial intelligence (AI), cyber, synthetic biology, nanotech, and other breakthroughs
- Global health, particularly the rising threat posed by pandemic disease and the linkages among human, animal, and environmental health (“One Health”)
- Outer space governance, encompassing the dilemmas posed by accumulating orbital debris, space traffic congestion, property and sovereignty claims, and arms racing
In each domain, the working group will seek to identify and compare key sources of order and disorder. Participants will focus in particular on the role of key actor groups, including not only sovereign state governments and international organizations but an entire spectrum of critical non-state actors, among them private corporations, civil society organizations, philanthropies, subnational political authorities, and transnational action networks. Members will consider how these key actor groups contribute to both order and disorder not only within but across these domains. They will also consider how “(dis)order” is conceived across different regions, communities, and actors. The ultimate objective of this inquiry is to propose better strategies and institutional approaches to collectively managing these shared challenges and dilemmas. Several sets of questions will guide this inquiry.
Understanding current dynamics
- How is (dis)order developing and being expressed across these several domains?
- What are the main driving forces behind these dynamics?
- How are transnational and planetary challenges related to broader global political, economic, and security trends – and vice-versa?
- Are dynamics of (dis)order within separate planetary domains (e.g., climate change and health) linked to one another?
- How do shifting dynamics between private and public authorities affect the nature of transnational and planetary challenges – and the ability to respond to them?
- How do perceptions of transnational and planetary challenges vary across regions, actors, and stakeholders?
- What would it mean for these challenges to be “ordered”? Is some degree of “disorder” to be welcomed – for instance, as a precondition for valuable innovation, as opposed to oppressive rigidity?
Envisioning future possibilities
- Is it possible to imagine a more effective, inclusive, equitable, resilient, and sustainable approach to the collective governance of planetary and transnational challenges? Looking back from 2050, what practical steps might be taken over the next quarter-century to overcome existing differences and help put humanity on a better path? What are the main impediments to realising such a vision (or visions)? What would be the implications and scenarios were cooperation to fail?
- How should scientific and technical knowledge contribute to these political and policy debates? To the degree that scientific understanding is a public good, how can we promote equal access and benefit-sharing, as well as the responsible use, of scientific breakthroughs?
Considering institutional responses
- What sorts of institutional innovations could promote the more effective, inclusive, equitable, resilient, and sustainable governance of transnational and planetary challenges by 2050?
- What multilateral, multistakeholder, multi-scalar, regional, intergenerational, international legal or other arrangements might be needed?
- What should and can be done with institutions that are no longer fit for purpose?
- How, if at all, should the privileges and obligations of sovereignty be adjusted to new realities and imperatives?
- How can new institutions and political authorities be squared with requirements of legitimacy?
- How should these arrangements accommodate social, cultural, political, and other forms of pluralism and localism, as well as maximise inclusion rather than exclusion?