New World New Rules - by George Papaconstantinou & Jean Pisani-Ferry (Hardcover)

About the Book

The world needs collective action, but existing arrangements are unravelling or outmoded. Two of Europe's most-experienced policymakers tackle global governance across climate, health, trade, banking and finance, big business, migration and the digital economy, to establish what works and what doesn't.

Book Synopsis

The need for collective action has never been greater, but geopolitics, structural changes and diverging preferences mean that existing global governance arrangements, devised at Bretton Woods in the 1940s, are either unravelling or outmoded. Reconciling this contradiction is today's pressing global policy challenge.

In this short book, two of Europe's most-experienced policymakers and analysts outline a new agenda for global governance. They examine governance practices across several key policy areas - climate, health, trade and competition, banking and finance, taxation, migration and the digital economy - and consider what works and what doesn't, and why. The global governance solutions they put forward are ambitious but pragmatic. They require complexity, flexibility and compromise. Attributes that global governments are demonstrably short of, but today's global crises urgently demand.

Review Quotes

At times engrossing and consistently incisive, this lucidly written study of the new world order offers a bold blueprint for rethinking global governance in our fractured world. The authors champion pragmatic multilateralism, focusing on shared interests in the face of conflicting priorities. Carefully researched, the book provides an honest, realistic diagnosis of the forces behind today's tectonic power shifts, and detailed, actionable paths forward. A must-read for anyone looking for fresh ideas on where international cooperation could and should go.--Bengt Holmström, Nobel laureate, Economics 2016, Emeritus Professor, MIT

Never before have so many challenges - financial stability, global warming, preservation of biodiversity, pandemic control, regulation of the digital world - required global cooperation so badly. And not since the aftermath of the Second World War have the mechanisms for global collective action looked so weak and disjointed. Is there a way out of this conundrum? In their fascinating book, George Papaconstantinou and Jean Pisani-Ferry provide not just a ray of hope, but a clear way forward. Highly recommended reading.--Andrés Velasco, Dean, School of Public Policy, London School of Economics, former Finance Minister of Chile

New World New Rules is a bold and practical book. The authors analyze what is working and what is broken in the international system without shying away from hard issues or difficult conclusions. Best of all, they offer a set of clear recommendations that policymakers, practitioners, advocates and civic groups searching for ways to ward off pandemics, mitigate and manage climate change, and prevent digital destruction can actually apply.--Anne-Marie Slaughter, CEO, New America, Professor and Dean Emerita, School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University; former Director of Policy Planning, US Department of State

A granular, clear-eyed, and deeply insightful look at the many facets of global governance. The book assesses where there has been progress and where there has been less, and offers pragmatic, concrete proposals for improvement. An absolute must read.--Olivier Blanchard, Professor Emeritus, MIT, Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics, and former IMF Chief Economist

In today's fractured world, global governance increasingly looks like a forgotten dream. From global public health to climate action and the prevention of corporate rent-seeking, problems however are more pressing than ever. This book identifies unlikely successes, finds out what are the reasons for them and offers well thought-out recommendations for policy.--Laurence Tubiana, CEO, European Climate Foundation

Papaconstantinou and Pisani-Ferry offer a fresh, clear-eyed perspective on the global economy's balancing act between economics and geopolitics, fragmentation and integration, and cooperation and rivalry. As they note, the world requires new rules of the road that recognize the declining power and influence of the West.--Pascal Lamy, former Director-General, World Trade Organisation

The new book of Georges Papaconstantinou and Jean Pisani-Ferry brilliantly demonstrates that the classic keys to reading global governance, such as the search for standard models, are obsolete. It is through innovation, hybrid models and learning that this increasingly fragmented world can hope to solve major collective problems. A vigorous call for innovation and pragmatism.--Dani Rodrik, Professor of International Political Economy, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

This is a timely and important book about approaches for global cooperation on shared global challenges in an era of rising geopolitical rivalries. The authors analyze examples of successful cooperation in the development of global rules for cross-border economic relations - for example, Bretton Woods, GATT and the WTO - and in the ongoing evolution of global agreements on the digital economy, climate and health. Three distinct approaches to cooperation are identified - a legal approach, based on rules and agreements, an economic approach based on incentives, and a political approach reflecting power relations. The authors warn that global cooperation on both the rules for economic interdependence and on the solutions to urgent shared problems, especially climate change, is at risk in a multi-polar world with rising geopolitical rivalries, different perspectives on the rule of law, and different economic incentives among nations. They provide cogent lessons and priorities for effective global governance under these conditions.--Laura Tyson, University of California, Berkeley, former Chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, and Director of the National Economic Council

This is the right book for our time. Papaconstantinou and Pisani-Ferry go beyond bemoaning the lack of international cooperation and listing further threats to it. They create a practical way forward, drawing an inspiring 'thread from Ariadne' to an action agenda for Europe's now more pivotal role than ever.--Adam Posen, President, Peterson Institute for International Economics

What do you get when you put together a wealth of theoretical and practical experience from two world-renowned economists? A book that is able to explain the problem and the solutions of a world in flux. Policy analysis does not get better than this. A must-read for all nerds of international relations that want to understad the world we live in.--Alex Stubb, President of Finland

About the Author

George Papaconstantinou is Professor of International Political Economy at the Florence School of Transnational Governance of the European University Institute. His career spans academia, policy, politics and consultancy. He has served government at the highest level as Minister of Finance during the Greek crisis and subsequently Minster of Environment and Energy.

Jean Pisani-Ferry is Professor of Economics at Sciences Po, Paris, a Senior Fellow at Bruegel, the European think tank, and a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute in Washington, DC.