Networks Decentralizing Authority in Global Economic Governance

This chapter analyzes how governance networks contributed to decentralizing global economic governance since the 2008 financial crisis. The growing international influence of networks of private, public, intergovernmental, and civil society actors has important authority effects, especially due to their policy contestation, advocacy, and capacity to shift the global governance agenda. This was augmented by increasing engagement and integration as interlocutors and policy actors, particularly in informal global governance settings such as the Group of Twenty. Global governance networks interact through transnational professional “ecologies.” This study also analyzes linkages between governance networks and broader practice communities. The research includes evidence from participant observation, semi-structured interviews, public statements, and document analysis. It deploys analytical tools, especially from social constructivism, discourse analysis, and the sociology of professions. Governance networks contributed significantly to the diversification of global governance actors since the financial crisis, decentralizing authority in global economic governance.