Two PhD Positions: Multistakeholder Global Governance (Full-Time, 1.0 FTE)

at  Universiteit Leiden

Vacancy number
15123
Job type
PhD positions
Hours (in fte)
1,0
External/ internal
External , Internal
Location
Den Haag
Placed on
20 September 2024
Closing date
4 October 2024 8 more days to apply

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

These PhD positions contribute pivotally to the project Multistakeholder Global Governance: Capacity, Effectiveness, Legitimacy. This project undertakes the first comprehensive detailed systematic comparative analysis of the promises and pitfalls of multistakeholder
arrangements for addressing global challenges. As core participants in the project, the PhD students will make important advances on theory, empirics, and policy around global multistakeholder frameworks.
Today’s major societal problems have significant global dimensions that demand substantial global policy responses. Yet, at the present moment of unprecedented need for global-scale governance, old-style multilateralism through intergovernmental organizations is stalled. One prominent alternative to multilateralism is multistakeholderism, which assembles parties from business, civil society, foundations, government, research and/or technical experts. Three major instances of multistakeholder global governance (also the focal case studies for this project) include the Forest Stewardship Council, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. FSC, GFATM, and ICANN are key venues for global governance respectively of environment, health, and communications.
The central question for this project asks: how can multistakeholder global governance operate well? More specifically, the study enquires how far, and under what circumstances, multistakeholder global governance at FSC, GFATM, and ICANN can attain capacity, effectiveness, and legitimacy? Regarding capacity, how well equipped are these three global multistakeholder governance apparatuses? Regarding effectiveness, how far do they impact their respective fields? Regarding legitimacy, how much approval do these global multistakeholder regimes attract? Moreover, what conditions promote or hinder capacity, effectiveness, and legitimacy in these three key instances of multistakeholder global governance?
In terms of theory, the project pursues a broadly institutional approach. The study seeks to understand multistakeholder global governance primarily in terms of its organizational features, such as the purposes, procedures, and performances of the regulatory apparatuses. To be sure, the study also considers the individual level (i.e. how the features of persons shape the workings of FSC, GFATM, and ICANN) and the societal level (i.e. how the three bodies are nested in wider cultural, economic, and political contexts), since individual and societal circumstances often affect organizational workings. Moreover, while a general institutional orientation applies for the collective project analysis, the PhD students may in their individual dissertations pursue any preferred theoretical perspectives, from power politics to postcolonialism.
Regarding research methods, as already indicated the project adopts a comparative case study approach. Comparison across three cases in three issue areas allows identification of common and variable features between several key instances of multistakeholder global governance. To collect relevant data, the project looks primarily to written documentation, elite interviews, and surveys. Involvement of practitioners (practice-research exchange) is incorporated at all stages. Much of the research is deskwork at Leiden University, but fieldwork visits to the head offices of the three organizations and attendance of their international meetings will be required for other data collection. We will also conduct a public opinion survey with help from a survey company. Data will be subjected to both qualitative and quantitative analysis, so that the PhD students will obtain broad methodological competences.

POSITION DESCRIPTION

The two PhD candidates will be integral partners in the research project team, along with prof.dr. Jan Aart Scholte (coordinator) and dr. Hortense Jongen (senior researcher). In addition, the project has a six-member advisory board, including three international academic specialists and three leading practitioners from the FSC, GFATM, and ICANN.
Scholte and Jongen will provide high-quality joint supervision of the two PhD candidates. The PhD students can expect an attentive and empathetic approach, availability and accessibility, clear guidance, timely feedback, and solid advice for long-term career development. Since we work as a team, the PhD students will have close support from supervisors throughout the four-year period. In addition, ISGA provides a mandatory PhD training programme for its whole PhD community.
One doctoral student will undertake the main FSC research, while the other will undertake the main GFATM research. Scholte will undertake the main ICANN research. Jongen will support all three case studies, especially as regards data analysis.
Since the project depends on closely coordinated collaboration among the four researchers, the PhD students need to commit to the work period from early 2025 to end 2028.
In addition to completing their individual dissertations, the PhD students will also be co-authors on other project publications, including three journal articles and a jointly prepared book. The PhD students will also participate in presentations of project results and recommendations to academic as well as policy audiences. Modest teaching obligations address the educational side of an academic portfolio. Hence, the PhD students will in this position build up a strong all-round professional cv for their future employment.

• Complete a PhD dissertation within the four-year timeframe of the project
• Pursue a project case study of either the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM)
• Conduct both independent and collaborative data collection and analysis
• Co-author 3 journal articles together with other researchers on the team
• Contribute to a co-authored book manuscript
• Prepare policy briefs and podcasts that present results to non-academic audiences
• Assist with project website and social media communications
• Present project findings and recommendations at academic and policy venues
• Contribute to the general research environment of the respective institutes as well as Leiden University’s Global Transformations and Governance Challenges programme