Signature Plan: Global Law and Governance

Signature Plan: Global Law and Governance

In our transforming societies, law and governance have come under pressure. This research program takes on the rethinking of law and governance and also offers ways forward. We do so starting from the major societal challenges of the 21st century.

Societal challenges

The signature plan Global Law and Governance is an open research program, hosting and facilitating a range of projects and initiatives in the area of law and governance. Global Law and Governance takes as its starting point societal challenges and wicked problems such as: climate change, further (economic) globalization and increasing inequalities, the growing importance of social media, the Covid pandemic, and migration. These challenges and problems necessitate rethinking law and governance issues such as the role of human rights, democratic practices, and the regulation of non-state actors. GLG researchers, independently and in collaboration with others, develop and execute state of the art research that helps to improve our understanding of and advance our societies.

  • For example, researchers in Constitutionalizing in the Anthropocene grapple with the legal and normative complexities and controversies that arise due to the transformations of the Anthropocene.
  • Another Global Law and Governance project, BOLSTER, investigates how marginalized communities are affected by European Green Deal-related policies.

Rethinking law and governance

Researchers in Global Law and Governance share an interest in rethinking the publicness of public law and governance. Processes of globalization and the decline of national welfare states have been transforming the societies that provided the foundations for public law and public administration. Law and governance have come under pressure and necessitate rethinking, but also offer ways forward. Legitimate public authority is needed, from the global to the local, but often lacking. Innovations in law and governance help shift our understanding of what public authority might be. The focus of research in the program is on the way institutions, networks, organizations and professionals in law and governance deal with, adapt to, and are resilient in the face of fundamental societal challenges like, for instance, climate change, creeping crises and destructive conflicts. Our research aims to understand changes internal to law and governance and those crossing and forming their boundaries and the way law and governance actors deal with or aggravate challenges. Legal and institutional steering do not stand outside of the challenges facing us. Nor does research. We thus investigate not only to understand, but also to critique and improve practices that confront these challenges, asking, for instance,

Law and governance as a network of normative orders

Global Law and Governance entails inquiry oriented to articulating a “grammar” of law and governance which does not consider the state as the norm but thinks of law and governance in terms of a network of interacting, competing, and overlapping normative orders - from the local to the global. Global Law and Governance speaks to a pluri-centric approach to law and governance in which the global manifests itself locally and the local is the breeding ground for the globalization of law and governance. We investigate how challenges manifest themselves, both in particular contexts and at the conceptual level. We draw inspiration from and compare across different sites, constitutional frameworks and jurisdictions.

  • In the research project CONTRA, for instance, we investigate how conflicts over the development of urban areas play out in four countries, each with their own legal framework.

Range of disciplines

In the Global Law and Governance program we make use of a range of disciplines, research strategies and methods. Disciplines include (various areas of) law, sociology, political sciences, history and philosophy, as well as multidisciplinary fields such as urban studies and public administration. Strategies include case studies, doctrinal research, and discourse analysis; and methods innovative ones like “go-along” and “drama labs.” In a large part of our research, we compare contemporary cases internationally. Historical research methods also feature prominently in the Global Law and Governance research community.

  • In CaPANES, for instance, we look into features for and historical changes in economic sovereignty in cities of commerce.
  • To improve the quality and relevance of our research, we build transdisciplinary collaborations with a large range of actors, including local governments, ministries, civil society actors, international institutions and other universities. In REDRESS, for instance, researchers and collaboration partners like the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, LSA Bewoners (network of residential groups) and the VNG (Association of Netherlands Municipalities) look at new forms of democracy.

Research output

Most recent research output of Global Law & Governance.

  1. Are Renewable Energy Technologies Compatible with Biodiversity Conservation? The Energy-Conservation Legal Nexus

    Are Renewable Energy Technologies Compatible with Biodiversity Conservation? The Energy-Conservation Legal NexusPaiement, P. & Fleurke, F., 2024, (Accepted/In press) Climate Technology and Law in the Anthropocene . Zahar, A. & Reins, L. (eds.). Bristol: Bristol university pressResearch output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › Scientific › peer-review
  2. De rol van het recht bij de opkomst van kweekvlees en kweekzuivel als baanbrekende technologie in de landbouw- en voedseltransitie in de EU

    De rol van het recht bij de opkomst van kweekvlees en kweekzuivel als baanbrekende technologie in de landbouw- en voedseltransitie in de EUVerschuuren, J., Feb 2024, Duurzame handelsketens en het recht: een decennium later. Den Haag: Uitgeverij Boom, Vol. VMR 2024. p. 13-35 23 p. (Publicaties van de Vereniging voor Milieurecht; vol. 2024).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › Scientific
  3. Lawyers need knowledge of doctrinal research methods and philosophy of science

    Juristen moeten kennis hebben van doctrinair onderzoek en wetenschapsfilosofieTranslated title of the contribution: Lawyers need knowledge of doctrinal research methods and philosophy of scienceArnoldussen, T., Dec 2023, In: Recht der Werkelijkheid. 2023, 3, p. 76-83 8 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review
  4. Connecting laws to climates: A timely challenge for reflexive lawyers

    Connecting laws to climates: A timely challenge for reflexive lawyers Arnoldussen, T., Dec 2023, In: Tilburg Law Review. 28, 1, p. 38-44 7 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review
  5. Governing through vision, the blurring line between law and policy

    Governing through vision, the blurring line between law and policyArnoldussen, T., 2022.Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper › Scientific

More about the Signature Plan: Global Law & Governance you can find in the

Tilburg Research Portal