Legitimacy and international cooperation: crisis or opportunity

This event is in Swedish.

Policymaking’s ability to deal with cross-border problems is constantly challenged in several areas such as pandemics, financial crises and conflicts. Countries have withdrawn from important collaborations and international organisations, illustrated by Brexit and the United States withdrawing from the Paris Agreement. Strong currents of populism and nationalism have in recent years attacked multilateralism and thus risked undermining confidence in global cooperation.

For six years, fifteen researchers in political science have delved into issues concerning how elites and citizens view legitimacy in international cooperation and how international organisations go about trying to strengthen their legitimacy. How serious are crises like the Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and climate change for international and regional organisations like the EU, the World Health Organization and the World Bank? How is their legitimacy challenged and strengthened? Are today’s difficulties in international cooperation a sign of a more chaotic world order with a poorer ability to solve global threats to people and the environment? We will discuss these and other current issues together based on the results of the research programme presented during the seminar’s introduction.

Welcome to an afternoon where researchers share new results and perspectives in dialogue with representatives from civil society, policymakers and the media! The seminar ends with a mingle.

Panellists

Erika Bjerström, Global Climate Correspondent, SVT
Hanna Nelson, Policy Manager, Oxfam Sweden
Jens Orback, CEO Global Challenges Foundation
Jakob Ström, Chancellor and COVAX Coordinator, Ministry for Foreign Affairs
Cecilia Tengroth, Secretary General, Swedish United Nations

Researchers

Jonas Tallberg, Programme Manager, Department of Political Science, Stockholm University
Hans Agné, Department of Political Science, Stockholm University
Magdalena Bexell, Department of Political Science, Lund University
Karin Bäckstrand, Department of Political Science, Stockholm University
Kristina Jönsson, Department of Political Science, Lund University
Fredrik Söderbaum, School of Global Studies, Gothenburg University

Moderators

Magdalena Bexell and Hans Agné

Event and Registration

The seminar will be a hybrid event (online and in-person) at the Institute for Future Studies (IFFS), Holländargatan 13, Stockholm. Given the limited number of places, please register no later than April 11 via this link if you want to participate on-site. You can follow the event remotely from here.