The established neoliberal norms that have shaped global governance institutions are increasingly under pressure. But what is taking their place? This season of Planetary Choices explores the alternatives emerging from today's poly-crisis and asks which states, actors and institutions might shape a new narrative of global governance. From planetary boundaries and the wellbeing economy to degrowth and new forms of collective action, alternative visions are bringing different ideas of value, expertise, economics and political success to the fore.
What alternative knowledge and futures are already in play? How can we rethink international economics when globalization retreats? What types of historical and legal perspectives are necessary for a new, inclusive, sustainable and peaceful future?
Global Governance Beyond Neoliberalism explores these questions as well as the possibilities, tensions and uncertainties of what may come next.
In our very first episode in our series Beyond Neo-liberalism, our host Hagen Schulz-Forberg sits down with political scientist Michael Zürn as they explore the intersections of global governance and international relations in the current political climate. The two discuss Zürn’s work with the analytical categories of NALFI (Normativity, Authority, Liberalism, Fragmentation, Inequality), democratic regression and the tensions between national democracy and transnational authorities.
Are we moving beyond our traditional understandings of Global Governance? Do transnational authorities have too big of a grasp on national democracies? Are we moving towards a post-democracy understanding of international relations? If so, what will happen?
This episode is hosted by Hagen Schulz-Forberg.
Academic Reference:
Michael Zürn, Hagen Schulz-Forberg; The Shifting Tides of Global Governance—A Conversation with Michael Zürn. Global Perspectives 2 January 2026; 7 (1): 159010. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/gp.2026.159010
Chapters:
Chapter 1 [00:00-10:00]: Is Global Governance Dead?
Chapter 2 [10:00-19:00]: The Rise of Authoritarian Populism and the Intricacies of The Rule of Law
Chapter 3 [19:00-43:51]: Normative Questions, Questions of Authority, Questions of Liberalism, Fragmentation, and Inequality (NALFI) as a Conceptual Grib to Understand Contemporary Governance
3.1 [20:57-27:20]: Normativity
3.2 [27:20-33:40] Authority
3.3 [33:40-38:47] Liberalism
3.4 [38:47-40:40] Fragmentation
3.5[40:40-43:51] Inequality
Chapter 4 [43:51- 52:55]: Can We Move Beyond the Traditional Understandings of IR/Global Governance?
Chapter 5 [52:55 – 01:06:38)]: Three Scenarios for the Future
5.1 [52:55-56:05]: International Regulation and Open Economy
5.2 [56:05-01:04:39]: Repetition of East-West Conflict
5.3 [01:04:39-01:06:38]: Warfare, Economic Crashes, and Environmental Crises
Further Readings:
Hanson, Stephen E. and Jeffrey S. Kopstein. 2024. The Assault on the State - How the Global Attack on Modern Government Endangers Our Future. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Locke, John. 1823. “Two Treatises of Government.” In the Former, The False Principles and Foundation of Sir Robert Filmer, and His Followers, Are Detected and Overthrown: The Latter, Is an Essay Concerning the Original Extent, and End, of Civil Government. New ed. Vol. V. London: Printed for Thomas Tegg, W. Sharpe and Son, G. Offor, G. and J. Robinson, J. Evans and Co.
Marshall, Catherine, and Céline Roynier, eds. 2024. Twenty-First Century Perspectives on the Scholarship of AV Dicey: The Enduring Legacy of a Victorian Constitutionalist. 1st ed. Oxford: Hart Publishing. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781509975105.
OECD (2024), PISA 2022 Results (Volume V): Learning Strategies and Attitudes for Life, PISA, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/c2e44201-en.
Schäfer, Armin, and Michael Zürn. 2024. The Democratic Regression: The Political Causes of Authoritarian Populism. Translated by Stephen Curtis. London: Polity Press.
Tilly, Charles. 2010 [1985]. “War Making and State Making as Organized Crime.” In Bringing the State Back In, edited by Peter Evans, Dietrich Rueschemeyer, and Theda Skocpol. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Zürn, Michael. 2018. A Theory of Global Governance: Authority, Legitimacy, and Contestation. 1st ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198819974.001.0001.
Zürn, Michael. 2026. “Charting Global Futures: a Configurative Perspective on International Order.” The Chinese Journal of International Politics 19 (1): 42-63. https://doi.org/10.1093/cjip/poaf018.
Zürn, Michael, and Matthew Stephen. 2010. “The View of Old and New Powers on the Legitimacy of International Institutions.” Political Studies Association Vol. 30, (S1): 91-101. Berlin: Social Science Research Center.
In the latest episode of Beyond Neo-liberalism, our host Hagen Schulz-Forberg is joined by political scientist and executive director, Fabrizio Tassinari, as we explore his work at European University Institute’s School of Transnational Governance and his works on developing new forms of diplomatic training, suitable for an age of planetary poly-crisis.
Throughout the episode we explore questions of what it means to educate our future diplomats in times of planetary crisis, what is left of the old forms of transnational governance and what can guide future visions of global governance.
This episode is hosted by Hagen Schulz-Forberg.
Academic Reference:
Fabrizio TassinariHagen Schulz-Forberg; Rethinking Education for Transnational Governance. Global Perspectives 2 January 2026; 7 (1): 158897. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/gp.2026.158897
Chapters
Chapter 1 [00:00–14:24]: The Foundation of a Transnational Governance School
Chapter 2 [14:25-23:11]: The Ethics of Educating on an International Institutional Level
Chapter 3 [23:12-25:34]: Language Use on an Institutional Level
Chapter 4 [25:35-53:35]: Transferring Institutional Policies towards Planetary Thinking
Chapter 5 [53:36-58:06]: Wrapping up the Education for Transnational Governance
Further Readings
European University Institute. 2026. “Young African Leaders Programme.” School of Transnational Governance. https://www.eui.eu/en/academic-units/school-of-transnational-governance/stg-fellowships/young-african-leaders
Garicano, Luis, Bengt Holmström, and Nicolas Petit. 2025 The Constitution of Innovation: A New European Renaissance. https://constitutionofinnovation.eu/
Blake, Jonathan, and Nils Gilman. 2024. Children of a Modest Star. Planetary Thinking for an Age of Crises. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Gilman, Nils. 2025.“Planetarity and the Future of Diplomacy.” Small Precaution. https://nilsgilman.substack.com/p/planetarity-and-the-future-of-diplomacy
Giuashvili, Tinatin, and Fabrizio Tassinari. 2024. Beyond Geopolitical Europe. STG Policy Brief No. 2024/1. Florence: European University Institute, School of Transnational Governance. https://hdl.handle.net/1814/76389
Tassinari, Fabrizio. 2022. The Pursuit of Governance: Nordic Dispatches on a New Middle Way. Newcastle upon Tyne: Agenda Publishing.
Tassinari, Fabrizio. 2009. Why Europe Fears Its Neighbors. 1st ed. Westport, CT: Praeger Security International. https://doi.org/10.5040/978216035633
Tassinari, Fabrizio, and Nathalie Tocci Milanese, eds. 2024. An Enlarged Europe as a Civilization of Consent: Can Europe Be a Laboratory for a New Planetary Politics? STG Policy Brief. Florence: European University Institute, School of Transnational Governance and Berggruen Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/1814/76822
U.S. Department of State. 2026. “Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI)”. https://yali.state.gov/
In the third episode of our new season, Global Governance Beyond Neoliberalism, we sit down with Vladimir Pacheco Cueva, Associate Professor in the Global Studies Department at Aarhus University.
Drawing on research in political economy and social policy, with a particular focus on Latin America, Cueva takes us through one of the most striking economic experiments of recent years: El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin under President Nayib Bukele.
Together with our host, Hagen Schulz-Forberg, the two explore what this unprecedented crypto-project means for governance, development, financial sovereignty, and everyday life in a country marked by political disruptions and environmental fragility. From the promises of innovation to the risks of deepening inequality, Cueva helps us understand how El Salvador’s Bitcoin project fits into longer histories of neoliberal reform and what its trajectory might reveal about the future of post-neoliberal politics across the region.
This episode is hosted by Hagen Schulz-Forberg.
Academic Reference:
Vladimir Pacheco Cueva, Hagen Schulz-Forberg; Bitcoin Nation? Assessing El Salvador’s Crypto Experiment. Global Perspectives 2 January 2026; 7 (1): 158699. doi: doi.org/10.1525/gp.2026.158699
Chapters:
Chapter 1 [00:00-09:05]: Explaining Bitcoin Nation — El Salvador and the Global Conditions Behind Its Emergence
Chapter 2 [09:05-22:05]: Bitcoin in Today’s Political and Economic Climate
Chapter 3 [22:05-28:15]: Bitcoin Beach — A Local Experiment with Global Implications
Chapter 4 [28:15-42:16]: Bitcoin’s Prospects as a Medium of Exchange
Chapter 5 [42:16-46:44]: Energy Use and Planetary Implications of Bitcoin
Further Readings:
Berger, P.L., and Michael H. Hsin-Huang, eds. 1988. In Search of an East Asian Development Model. 1st ed. Routledge. https://doi-org.ez.statsbiblioteket.dk/10.4324/9781003575719
Cueva, Vladimir Pacheco. 2024. “Anti-ideology in El Salvador? Continuities and discontinuities in a radicalised and environmentally fragile country.” In Ideology, Post-Ideology and Anti-Ideology in Latin America: Reflections from the Last Decade. 1st ed., edited by Baisotti, P. and Lagos Rojas, 157-158. London: Bloomsbury Publishing plc.
Freedman, Camilo. 2025. “’They turned our home into a cemetery’: the high price of El Salvador’s Bitcoin City dream.” The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/mar/12/el-salvador-bitcoin-city-mangroves-president-nayib-bukele
Kenen, Peter. 2008. “Bretton Woods System.” In The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Edited by Steven N. Durlauf and Lawrence E. Blume. 2 ed. Palgrave Macmillan.
Kim, Eun Mee. 1998. The Four Asian Tigers: Economic Development and the Global Political Economy. 1st ed, Emerald Publishing.
Nakamoto, Satoshi. 2008. “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.” SSRN eLibrary http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3440802
University of Cambridge. n.d. “Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index.” University of Cambridge: Centre for Alternative Finance. https://ccaf.io/cbnsi/cbeci
In this special Symposium edition of our podcast series Beyond Neo-Liberalism, we dive into Anna Schwenck’s monograph, Flexible Authoritarianism, alongside a panel of leading scholars: Jeremy Morris, Greg Yudin, and Johanna K. Bockman.
How do ambition, loyalty, status, and inequality take shape inside an authoritarian regime? Can neoliberal aspirations thrive under authoritarian rule? And how does everyday life—and innovation—unfold within a war-driven economy? Our guests unpack these questions, debate the concepts we use to understand Russian society today, and offer fresh perspectives on authoritarianism, social change, and resistance.
This episode is hosted by Hagen Schulz-Forberg.
Academic Reference:
Anna Schwenck, Jeremy Morris, Johanna Bockman, Greg Yudin, Hagen Schulz-Forberg; Rethinking Russia: Transnational Perspectives on Authoritarianism, Society & Resistance—A Symposium. Global Perspectives 14 May 2026; 7 (1): 161510. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/gp.2026.161510
Chapters:
Chapter 1 [00:00–21:32]: An Introduction to Flexible Authoritarianism by Anna Schwenck
Chapter 2 [21:33-42:36]: Jeremy Morris: An Epistemological Comparison to the Russian Authoritarian Regime
Chapter 3 [42:37-53:05]: Johanna Bockman: Stating Arguments and Clarifying Questions on Disputed Themes in the Book
Chapter 4 [53:06-1:07:04]: Greg Yudin: Contents and Concerns with Flexible Authoritarianism as a Concept
Chapter 5 [1:07:05-1:39:16]: Discussing the Nuances
Further Readings:
Schwenck, Anna. Flexible Authoritarianism: Cultivating Ambition and Loyalty in Russia. Oxford University Press, 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197751589.001.0001.
Morris, Jeremy. Everyday Politics in Russia: From Resentment to Resistance. 1st ed., Bloomsbury Academic, 2025, https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350509351.
Yudin, Greg. Governing Through Polls: Politics of Representation and Presidential Support in Putin’s Russia. Javnost (Ljubljana, Slovenia), vol. 27, no. 1, 2020, pp. 2–16, https://doi.org/10.1080/13183222.2020.1675434.
Bockman, Johanna. Markets in the Name of Socialism: The Left-Wing Origins of Neoliberalism. 1st ed., Stanford University Press, 2011. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780804778961.
John Schumpeter? (mentioned by Greg around 56 minutes in, that should be in Anna’s book)
Schumpeter, Joseph Alois. The Theory of Economic Development: An Inquiry into Profits, Capital, Credit, Interest, and the Business Cycle. 8. print., Transaction Publ., 2002.
Hemment, Julie, and Project Muse Content Provider. Youth Politics in Putin’s Russia: Producing Patriots and Entrepreneurs. Indiana University Press, 2015.
Quinn Slobodian
Glasius, Marlies. Authoritarian Practices in a Global Age. Oxford University Press, 2023.
For the fifth episode of this season on “Global Governance Beyond Neoliberalism,” our host, Hagen Schulz-Forberg, had the pleasure of speaking with political scientist, Jonathan Blake. Blake is the Associate Director of the Planetary Program at the Berggruen Institute, an international network of experts focusing on developing innovative, foundational frameworks that tackle questions involving the future of global governance. Through the Planetary Program, Blake and his colleagues have developed the Planetary Compendium: a website made in collaboration with Dark Matter Labs that showcases interactive, audio-visual case-studies concerning issues of planetary governance, health, economics, ecology, and more. This episode explores some of these case-studies and navigates questions of thinking outside of the boundaries of democracy, the possible evolution of political processes, and working together towards planetary governance.
This episode is hosted by Hagen Schulz-Forberg.
Academic Reference:
Jonathan Blake, Hagen Schulz-Forberg; Rethinking Global Governance with the Planetary Compendium—A Conversation with Jonathan Blake. Global Perspectives 13 May 2026; 7 (1): 161510. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/gp.2026.161510
Chapters:
Chapter 1 [00:00 – 07:20]: Foundations of the Planetary Program at the Berggruen Institute
Chapter 2 [07:20 – 17:32]: Moving Beyond Classical Political Categories in Democracy
Chapter 3 [17:32 – 26:27]: Rethinking Boundaries
Chapter 4 [26:27 – 39:21]: The Planetary Compendium
Chapter 5 [39:21 – 57:23]: What can We Gain by Living with the Planet?
Further Readings:
Berggruen Institute and Dark Matter Labs. 2025. “The Planetary Compendium.” https://governtheplanet.org.
Armstrong, Kate. 2025. “Whales and the Ecology of Value: Listening as a Planetary Imagination.”https://governtheplanet.org/case-study/whales.
Bekker, Alexandra and Prateek Shankar. 2025. “Melting Borders: Glacier Governance in the Hindu Kush Himalayas.”https://governtheplanet.org/case-study/glacier-governance.
Blake, Jonathan S. and Nils Gilman. 2025. “International Atomic Energy Agency: A Model for Proto-Planetary Governance.”https://governtheplanet.org/case-study/iaea.
Burke, Anthony and Stefanie Fishel. 2025. “Amazon Tipping Point Postponed: Ecoregion Assemblies for a Living Planet.”https://governtheplanet.org/case-study/amazon.
Chan, Stanley Qiufan. 2025. “Beyond Cloud Theft: When the World Remembered to Breath.”https://governtheplanet.org/case-study/cloud-theft.
Fernández de Córdoba Farini, Claudia. 2025. “Reimagining Biodiversity Governance: The North Sea as a Living Marine Democracy.”https://governtheplanet.org/case-study/north-sea.
Ledgard, J. M. 2025. “Tehanu: Interspecies Money as a Layer of Planetary Infrastructure.”https://governtheplanet.org/case-study/tehanu.
Robinson, Alexander. 2025. “Owens Lake: Repair as Planetary Reinvention.” https://governtheplanet.org/case-study/owens-valley.
Additional Readings
Blake, Jonathan S. and Nils Gilman. 2024. Children of a Modest Star: Planetary Thinking for an Age of Crises. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Gellner, Ernest. 1983. Nations and Nationalism. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
Rodrik, Dani. 2025. Shared Prosperity in a Fractured World: A New Economics for the Middle Class, the Global Poor, and Our Climate. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
For episode six of this season, “Global Governance Beyond Neoliberalism”, we had the pleasure of hosting Ian Manners, professor of political science at Lund University. Manners has decades of experience in teaching in Denmark, Britain and Sweden and is widely known for his work on normative power, European integration, and global politics. His research explores how values, identities, and political norms shape international relations and governance beyond traditional state-centered approaches.
Through his conversation with our host, Hagen Schulz-Forberg, Manners delves into the role of norms and values in global governance at a time marked by geopolitical tensions, democratic challenges, and planetary crises. This episode invites listeners to rethink the relation between Europe and the wider world, not only through a lens of institutional coordination but of global interdependence.
This episode is hosted by Hagen Schulz-Forberg.
Academic Reference:
Ian Manners, Hagen Schulz-Forberg; From Critical Theory to Planetary Politics; Rethinking Power, Knowledge and Ecology – A conversation with Ian Manners. Global Perspectives 29 June 2026; 7 (1): 162775. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/gp.2026.162775
Chapters
Chapter 1 [00:00-05:15]: Introduction
Chapter 2 [05:15-18:20]: The Role of the EU and Normative Power Today
Chapter 3 [18:20-34:15]: The Role of Political Scientists Today
Chapter 4 [34:15-54:00]: The New Planetary
[38:42-45:00] 4.1: Modern Outcomes of the Organic Crisis
[45:00-49:00] 4.2: The Role of the Law
[49:00-54:00] 4.3: Democracy
Chapter 5 [54:00-57:00]: Closing Thoughts
Further Readings:
Arendt, Hannah. 1958. The Human Condition, 2nd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1989. “Social Space and Symbolic Power.” Sociological Theory 7, no. 1: 14–25. https://doi.org/10.2307/202060.
Bull, Hedley. 1982. “Civilian Power Europe: A Contradiction in Terms?” JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 21: 149-170. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5965.1982.tb00866.x
Calhoun, Craig et al. 2007. Critical Social Theory, 2nd ed. Maryland: Blackwell Publishing.
Chakrabarty, Dipesh. 2021. The Climate of History in a Planetary Age. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Cochran, Molly. 1999. “International Ethics as Pragmatic Critique.” Normative Theory in International Relations: A Pragmatic Approach, 171-72. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gramsci, Antonio. 1929-1935. Prison Notebooks, vol. 1, edited by Joseph A. Buttigieg and Antonio Callari. Columbia: Columbia University Press (1997-2007).
Hall, Stuart. 1980. “Cultural studies: two paradigms.” Media, Culture and Society, vol. 2, 57-72. London: Academic Press Inc.
Krunke, Helle, Hanne Petersen, and Ian Manners. 2020. Transnational Solidarity: Concept, Challenges, and Opportunities, i-ii. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lorde, Audre. 1983. “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House.” In This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color, edited by Cherríe Moraga and Gloria Anzaldúa, 98-106. New York: Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press.
Lovelock, James. 1979. Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lovelock, James and Lynn Margulis. 1974. “Atmospheric homeostasis by and for the biosphere: the gaia hypothesis.” Telus, vol. XXVI, 2-10.
Margulis, Lynn. 1998. Symbiotic Planet: A New View of Evolution. New York: Basic Books.
Manners, Ian. 2002. “Normative Power Europe: A Contradiction in Terms?” JCMS, vol. 40, n. 2, 235-58. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-5965.00353.
Mbembe, Achilles and Deborah Posel. 2005. “A Critical Humanism.” Interventions, vol. 7(3), 283-286. London: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group.
Robinson, Ken. 2010. “Changing education paradigms.” TED Talk, RSA Animate, October. Video, 11 min., 40 sec. https://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson _changing-education_paradigms.
Sagan, Carl. 1994. A Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space. Toronto: The Random House Publishing Group.
Schulz-Forberg, Hagen and Michael Zürn. 2026. “The Shifting Tides of Global Governance––A Conversation with Michael Zürn.” Global Perspectives 2, 7 (1): 159010. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/gp.2026.159010.
In this new special Symposium edition of our podcast series Planetary Choices: Global Governance Beyond Neo-Liberalism, we engage with Dani Rodrik's new book, Shared Prosperity in a Fractured World: A New Economics for the Middle Class, the Global Poor, and Our Climate, alongside a panel of leading scholars: Jayati Ghosh and Marcel Fratzscher.
How can we simultaneously address climate change, restore the middle class, and reduce global poverty, without sacrificing one for the other? Is the Keynesian social-democratic settlement truly exhausted, and if so, what comes next? And how do local and national strategies succeed where global governance has failed?
Our guests unpack these questions, debate the trade-offs and synergies at the heart of Rodrik's "productivist" vision, and offer fresh perspectives on industrial policy, the future of democracy, and what a genuinely inclusive global economy might look like.
This episode is hosted by Hagen Schulz-Forberg.
Academic Reference:
Dani Rodrik, Jayati Ghosh, Marcel Fratzscher, Hagen Schulz-Forberg; Beyond Trade-offs: New Economics for Climate, Jobs, and Development – A Symposium. Global Perspectives 21 May 2026; 7 (1): 162174. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/gp.2026.162174
Chapters:
Chapter 1 [00:00-13:29]: Dani Rodrik: Green Transition, Good Jobs, and Global Poverty
Chapter 2 [13:30-21:06]: Jayati Ghosh: Manufacturing, Work, and Wealth
Chapter 3 [21:07-28:57]: Marcel Fratzscher: Democracy, the State, and Multilateralism
Chapter 4 [28:58-40:56]: Clarifications and Convergences by Dani Rodrik
Chapter 5 [40:57-1:08:00]: Alternative Frameworks and Open Debate
Further Readings:
Acemoglu, Daron, and James A. Robinson. 2012. Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty. New York: Crown Publishers / Random House.
Baumol, William J. 2012. The Cost Disease: Why Computers Get Cheaper and Health Care Doesn't. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Keynes, John Maynard. 1936. The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. London: Macmillan.
Thiel, Peter. 2009. "The Education of a Libertarian." Cato Unbound, April 13. https://www.cato-unbound.org/2009/04/13/peter-thiel/education-libertarian/.
Rodrik, Dani. 2025. Shared Prosperity in a Fractured World: A New Economics for the Middle Class, the Global Poor, and Our Climate. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Rodrik, Dani. 2011. The Globalization Paradox: Democracy and the Future of the World Economy. New York: W. W. Norton.
Smith, Adam. 1776. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. London: W. Strahan & T. Cadell.
In this episode of Planetary Choices, we sit down with Federica Genovese, Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Oxford University, to explore the tangled relationship between climate politics, global power, and the future of democracy.
During the episode, Federica takes us from the negotiating rooms of the UN to the coal-dependent communities of Indonesia and Brazil, unpacking how fossil fuel interests, emerging economies, and geopolitical rivalries are reshaping the climate agenda. We discuss the rise of climate realism, the impact of Trump's return to the White House, and China's paradoxical role as both carbon giant and green energy powerhouse. And we ask: can democracy still deliver on climate, or do we need to wait for the next window of opportunity?
This episode is hosted by Hagen Schulz-Forberg.
Academic Reference:
Federica Genovese, Hagen Schulz-Forberg; The Glocal Challenge: Distributional Politics and the Global South – A Conversation with Federica Genovese. Global Perspectives XXX 2026; 7 (1): 163461. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/gp.2026.163461
Chapters:
Chapter 1 [00:00–16:57]: The Politics of Climate Policy
Chapter 2 [16:58-43:12]: The Global South as Climate Frontier
Chapter 3 [43:13-47:51]: Climate Realism and the New Geopolitics of Energy
Chapter 4 [47:52:06-55:57]: Windows of Opportunity: Democracy, Crisis and the Future of Climate Politics
Further Readings:
Bayer, Patrick, Lorenzo Crippa, and Federica Genovese. "Energy Transition, Financial Markets and EU Interventionism: Evidence from the Ukraine Crisis." Political Science Research and Methods (2025).
Colgan, Jeff D., and Federica Genovese. "Global Climate Politics after the Return of President Trump." International Organization 79, no. S1 (2025): S88–S102. https://doi.org/10.1017/s002081832510115x
Council on Foreign Relations. "Climate Realism." New York: Council on Foreign Relations. https://www.cfr.org
European Union. European Green Deal. Brussels: European Commission, 2019.https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal_en
Gaikwad, Nikhar, Federica Genovese, and Dustin Tingley. "Creating Climate Coalitions: Mass Preferences for Compensating Vulnerability in the World's Two Largest Democracies." American Political Science Review 116, no. 4 (2022): 1165–1183.
Genovese, Federica. Varieties of Climate Vulnerabilities. Research project, University of Oxford, initiated January 2024. https://climatevulnerability.wordpress.com
Genovese, Federica. Weak States at Global Climate Negotiations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020.
Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, December 11, 1997. United Nations Treaty Series.
Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, December 12, 2015. United Nations Treaty Series, vol. 3156.
United Nations. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). New York: United Nations, 1992.
United States Congress. Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. Public Law 117-169. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Publishing Office, 2022.
United States Department of Energy / Department of State. Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETPs). Washington, D.C., initiated 2021.
On the 9th episode of Planetary Choices, we had the pleasure of welcoming with us Katharina Pistor, Edward B. Parker Professor of Comparative Law at Columbia Law School and author of two books, The Code of Capital and The Law of Capitalism and How to Transform It. Katharina is an expert in the legal and social sciences and examines the ways in which law shapes global relations and how they, in turn, transform the law.
Today, along with our host Hagen Schulz-Forberg, Katharina offers a comprehensive understanding of modern law in the age of capitalism and how it can be used to the advantage of the people with the right resources.
This episode is hosted by Hagen Schulz-Forberg.
Academic Reference:
Katharina Pistor, Hagen Schulz-Forberg; Coding the Legal Infrastructures of Capitalism - A Conversation with Katharina Pistor. Global Perspectives XXX 2026; 7 (1): 163459. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/gp.2026.163459
Chapters:
Chapter 1 [00:00-04:14]: Introduction
Chapter 2 [04:15-07:02]: Public and Private Law, Two Sides of Governance
Chapter 3 [07:05-16:38]: The Traps of Formal Equality
Chapter 4 [16:40-21:31]: The Various Levels of the Law
Chapter 5 [21:51-25:04]: The Semantics of Corporations
Chapter 6 [25:57-30-43]: Legal Translations of Post-Colonialism
Chapter 7 [30:46-41:15]: How to Transform Capital
Chapter 8 [41:38-45:24]: Constitutional Law and its Rights
Chapter 9 [45:43-54:31]: The Digital Code
Chapter 10 [54:40-58:26]: Green Capitalism
Chapter 11 [58:29-59:37]: Conclusion
Further Readings:
Burgerliches Gesetzbuch ... Berlin, Veb Deutschen Zentralverlag, 1962.
Duignan, Brian. The U.S. Constitution and Constitutional Law. New York: Britannica Educational Pub. in association with Rosen Educational Services, 2013.
Habermas, Jürgen. “Introduction Au Texte de J. Habermas.” Cités N° 89, no. 1 (February 21, 2022): 151–52. doi.org/10.3917/cite.089.0151.
Halperin, Jean-Louis. The French Civil Code. Taylor & Francis, 2021.
Mitterand, Francois, Michel Debre, and Giscard d’Estaing. “President Mitterrand on Population Policy in France.” Population and Development Review 7, no. 3 (September 1981): 568. doi.org/10.2307/1972588.
North, Douglass C. “Institutions.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 5, no. 1 (February 1991): 97–112. doi.org/10.1257/jep.5.1.97.
Pedersen, Susan. The Guardians: The League of Nations and the Crisis of Empire. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.
Pistor, Katharina. The Code of Capital : How the Law Creates Wealth and Inequality. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2019.
———. The Law of Capitalism and How to Transform It. Yale University Press, 2025.
Rasmussen, Hjalte. The European Court of Justice. Copenhagen Gadjura, 1998.
Rawls, John. Political Liberalism. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993.
Reagan, Ronald. “Inaugural Address 1981.” Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum, January 20, 1981. www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/inaugural-address-1981.
Sen, Amartya. “Journal of Human Development and Capabilities: A Multi-Disciplinary Journal for People-Centered Development the Ends and Means of Sustainability,” 2013. doi.org/10.1080/19452829.2012.747492.
Smith, Adam. The Wealth of Nations. London: W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1776.
Staff, TIME. “Angelina Jolie’s Double Mastectomy: What We Know about BRCA Mutations and Breast Cancer.” TIME. Time, May 14, 2013. time.com/archive/7136131/angelina-jolies-double-mastectomy-what-we-know-about-brca-mutations-and-breast-cancer/.
Stewart, Frances. “Nussbaum on the Capabilities Approach.” Journal of Human Development and Capabilities14, no. 1 (February 2013): 156–60. doi.org/10.1080/19452829.2013.762175.
Thiel, Peter. “Peter Thiel. Un Pessimisme Visionnaire.” Philosophie Magazine N° 94, no. 11 (November 1, 2015): 39–39. doi.org/10.3917/phimag.094.0025.
In this episode of Planetary Choices, we talk with Fabio Masini, Professor of Theories and History of International Political Economy at Roma Tre University and Secretary General of the Robert Triffin International, to trace the long and unfinished arc of a world that has never quite managed to govern itself.
Fabio has spent decades studying why multilateralism remains more promise than reality. In this conversation, he takes us from the ruins of the post-war international order to the weaponization of the dollar, from the fractures inside the European Union to the quiet rise of regional monetary blocs across Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia.
And beneath all of it, one question keeps coming back: if sovereignty is the capacity to solve problems, and our problems are now planetary, what does that mean for democracy?
This episode is hosted by Hagen Schulz-Forberg.
Academic Reference:
Fabio Masini, Hagen Schulz-Forberg; Towards Multilateralism: The Road Not Taken - A Conversation with Fabio Masini. Global Perspectives XXX 2026; 7 (1): 163457. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/gp.2026.163457
Chapters:
Chapter 1 [00:00–01:46]: Introduction
Chapter 2 [01:52-10:33]: The Crisis of Multilateralism
Chapter 3 [10:35-14:18]: The Relationship Between Money and Power
Chapter 4 [14:21-47:30]: Moving Past a Bipolar World Order
Chapter 5 [48:03-57:58]: The Keynesian Dream: The Bancor
Chapter 6 [58:08-01:08:37]: Multilevel Democracy
Further Readings:
African Union. Constitutive Act of the African Union. Adopted July 11, 2000, Lomé, Togo. Entered into force May 26, 2001.
Allison, Graham T. Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides's Trap? New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017.
ASEAN+3 Finance Ministers' Meeting. "Joint Ministerial Statement of the ASEAN+3 Finance Ministers Meeting." Chiang Mai, Thailand, May 6, 2000.
Beck, Ulrich. Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity. London: Sage Publications, 1992.
Boulding, Kenneth E. The Economics of Peace. New York: Prentice-Hall, 1945.
Coudenhove-Kalergi, Richard von. Pan-Europa. Vienna: Paneuropa-Verlag, 1923.
European Central Bank. "IMFC Statement by Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank, at the Forty-Fourth Meeting of the International Monetary and Financial Committee." Speech, International Monetary Fund Annual Meetings, October 14, 2021.https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/key/date/2021/html/ecb.sp211014~0ebead6ce2.en.html.
European Stability Mechanism. Treaty Establishing the European Stability Mechanism. Signed February 2, 2012. Entered into force September 27, 2012. https://www.esm.europa.eu/legal-documents/esm-treaty.
Fukuyama, Francis. The End of History and the Last Man. New York: Free Press, 1992.
Ghosh, Atish R., and Fabio Masini, eds. International Economic and Monetary Architecture at the Crossroads: Bretton Woods at 80. London: Routledge, 2026.
Hayek, Friedrich A. The Road to Serfdom. London: Routledge, 1944.
International Monetary Fund. "IMF Governors Approve a Historic US$650 Billion SDR Allocation of Special Drawing Rights." Press Release No. 21/235. August 2, 2021.https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2021/07/30/pr21235-imf-governors-approve-a-historic-us-650-billion-sdr-allocation-of-special-drawing-rights.
Keynes, John Maynard. "Proposals for an International Clearing Union." British Government White Paper, Cmd. 6437. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1943.
Masini, Fabio. European Economic Governance: Theories, Historical Evolution, and Reform Proposals. Cham: Springer, 2022.
Masini, Fabio, ed. 80 Years after Bretton Woods: Relaunching Multilateralism through Regional Monetary Unions. Lausanne: Peter Lang, 2025.
Masini, Fabio. "Time for a Next Generation Africa." Research Paper 571. Turin: Fondazione Centro Studi sul Federalismo, November 2021. https://www.fondazionecsf.it/images/Research_paper/CSF-RP_Next-Generation-Africa_F.Masini_Nov2021.pdf.
Meadows, Donella H., Dennis L. Meadows, Jørgen Randers, and William W. Behrens III. The Limits to Growth: A Report for the Club of Rome's Project on the Predicament of Mankind. New York: Universe Books, 1972.
Miran, Stephen. A User's Guide to Restructuring the Global Trading System. New York: Hudson Bay Capital Management, November 2024.https://hudsonbaycapital.com/documents/FG/hudsonbay/research/638199_A_Users_Guide_to_Restructuring_the_Global_Trading_System.pdf.
Nordhaus, William D. "Lethal Model 2: The Limits to Growth Revisited." Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, no. 2 (1992): 1–43.
Robbins, Lionel C. Economic Planning and International Order. London: Macmillan, 1937.
Robbins, Lionel C. The Economic Causes of War. London: Jonathan Cape, 1939.
Rueff, Jacques. The Monetary Sin of the West. New York: Macmillan, 1972. Originally published as Le Péché monétaire de l'Occident (Paris: Plon, 1971).
Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian Warr. London: Penguin Books, 1954.
Triffin, Robert. Gold and the Dollar Crisis: The Future of Convertibility. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1960.
Triffin, Robert. "Statement to the Joint Economic Committee of the United States Congress." October 1959. Reprinted in Gold and the Dollar Crisis: The Future of Convertibility. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1960.
Witteveen, H. Johannes. Remarks proposing an IMF oil-recycling facility, January 1974. Documented in Margaret Garritsen de Vries, The International Monetary Fund 1972–1978: Cooperation on Trial, vol. 1, chap. 17, "An Oil Facility Introduced." Washington, DC: International Monetary Fund, 1985.https://www.elibrary.imf.org/display/book/9781451922684/ch017.xml.
Xi Jinping. Remarks at bilateral summit meeting with President Donald J. Trump, Beijing, May 14, 2026. Reported by China Central Television (CCTV). Cited in "What Is 'Thucydides Trap,' Mentioned during Trump-Xi Meeting?" The Hill, May 14, 2026. https://thehill.com/policy/international/5877843-thucydides-trap-xi-jinping-china-trump-us-taiwan/.
