The Graduate School of International Studies (GSIS) launched the Center for 21st Century Global Governance Feb. 22.
The new center will undertake research on ways countries can more effectively cooperate to address the challenges facing the world in areas of security, development, democracy and human rights.
With research partners abroad, GSIS faculty and graduate students will conduct and sponsor research about global issues, including poverty, infectious diseases, terrorism and climate change. They will direct their findings to international policy makers and experts to promote cooperation between states.
“At a time when public opinion surveys around the world report dramatically deteriorating perceptions of the United States as a positive force in global affairs, it is urgent to reassess the utility and nature of multilateral cooperation and the U.S. role in the international community,” says center Director Tim Sisk.
Sisk says the United States needs to reengage in the cooperative efforts of the United Nations and encourage the world to address problems in pivotal countries such as Brazil, India and South Africa. Recent developments on the Korean peninsula — where six-country talks have led to a tentative agreement on North Korea’s nuclear program — show how engagement and cooperation can stimulate progress, he says.
Additionally, the GSIS center will promote United States involvement in the management of common problems in other states through projects that unite various countries, organizations and perspectives.
The center opened with a half-day symposium, “The Global Cooperation Deficit.” Programs focusing on peace and security, development and the environment, democracy and governance, and the institutions and processes of global governance are being planned.
This article originally appeared in The Source, March 2007.