Thomas Hale > Quotes

“While conventionally we think of institutionalization as a response to interdependence, here we emphasize that it is also a cause. A relatively stable, peaceful, liberal global order facilitated the radical economic globalization of the postwar era, creating an unprecedented degree of interdependence, partially endogenous to the process of cooperation itself. Though this increase in economic interdependence over time was foreseen and desired by the institutional architects of the 1940s, they could not have imagined how deeply it would alter the world, especially in two unforeseeable ways. First, interdependence spread far beyond its original nexus among the advanced industrial democracies to encompass almost the entire world. Second, previously “domestic” issues like the environment, health, or policing increasingly spilled across borders, acquiring the attributes of interdependence. Indeed, interdependence has grown so pervasive that it has outstripped the traditional mechanism through which governance was “supplied” – state bargaining over institutionalized cooperation. This creates gridlock.”
― Thomas Hale, Gridlock: Why Global Cooperation is Failing when We Need It Most

“When there is a network of slightly different institutions, the reflex response to a given policy problem is for each institution to provide a contribution to the policy problem at hand based on their own specialization. The consequence is that many small, specific problems may be tackled, but large, overarching ones remain unresolved and may even grow, all the while giving the appearance that the problem is being resolved. To be sure, there is nothing wrong with an advanced institutional division of labor; however some problems are of such a significant scale and magnitude that grander interventions are necessary. A collection of different institutions responding to a policy problem might in some cases succeed in changing the status quo, but not in actually moving to a new equilibrium.”
― Thomas Hale, Gridlock: Why Global Cooperation is Failing when We Need It Most

“The premise of this book is that this crucial political institution – institutionalized intergovernmental cooperation – is facing a period of crisis, which we term gridlock. Global governance has certainly never been easy, but it currently faces a new set of challenges. In this chapter we identify four mechanisms that have rendered multilateral cooperation increasingly difficult, four routes or pathways to gridlock. First, the diffusion of power from what used to be known as the industrialized world to the emerging economies has increased the number of actors who must agree – and the diversity of interests that must be accommodated – in order to achieve meaningful cooperation. Second, the institutional legacy of the postwar period has “locked in” policy-making processes that have now grown dysfunctional. Third, the easier items on the cooperation agenda have already been dealt with; yet deeper interdependence creates a need for more sophisticated, complex, and powerful institutions, which are harder to create. Fourth, a proliferation of institutions has led to fragmented “regime complexes” (Raustiala and Victor 2004) that can impede effective cooperation instead of facilitating it.”
― Thomas Hale, Gridlock: Why Global Cooperation is Failing when We Need It Most

“While awareness of global governance problems is arguably rising, even most of the educated public is rather unaware of the detail of how global policies are actually carried out. Marginal”
― Thomas Hale, Gridlock: Why Global Cooperation is Failing when We Need It Most