Bow down all 7 billion: the compressed spheres of global governance

Abstract

Purpose – This paper aims to answer two questions: How do technologies of governance explain how global governance is enacted? and What alternatives can be proposed for a sustainable future for the governed 7 billion? Design/methodology/approach – Using institutional theory and Galtung’s (1971) structural theory of imperialism as critical theoretical frameworks, this paper confronts orthodox conception of global governance by offering transformative alternatives to inequality, a “historically situated urgency”, which is the product of a faulty global governance system. Findings – Concrete, purposively sampled empirical illustrations on transnational corporations’ resource control and how “flight capital” fleeces the poor to enrich the affluent are provided to aid understanding. This helps to explain how such secretive financial mechanisms perpetuate global inequality in health, education and general well-being. Social implications – The study introduces the concept of compressed spheres of global governance. It is theorized that diverse institutional logics provide clusters of governors in coopetition that affect individuals and communities of places and communities of interests differently. Originality/value – The novelty in this study is the concept of compressed spheres of global governance which explain how both visible and invisible systems shape all the worlds of the governors and the governed, as well as how they both interpret their lived experiences.