Innovation is needed to better address the many challenges our world is currently facing. It is often driven by the joint efforts of private and public actors. Germany is well positioned to facilitate such collaboration. The research project “Germany’s New Alliances in Global (Health) Governance,” initiated by the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), explores new ways to tackle global health crises and other pressing issues together with partners that are supported by advanced governance approaches.
This project aims to identify and foster new forms of multilateral cooperation involving non-state actors and non-traditional constellations. Its overarching goal is to serve as a catalyst for using them to take on global challenges –including climate change, pandemics, sustainable development, and geopolitical tensions – more effectively and efficiently. In the process, it will help reinforce Germany’s role in shaping impactful and resilient alliances.
The project consists of three steps:
- First, it will scrutinize conventional global governance approaches and identify their limitations.
- Second, it will assess how the cross-disciplinary expertise of private actors – such as foundations, businesses, and civil society organizations (CSOs) – can supplement traditional state-led institutions like the United Nations. Special emphasis will be placed on private-public cooperation models across political domains, particularly their applicability and transferability to global health governance.
- Third, it will analyze Germany’s role in the multilateral order and its evolving approach to relying less on the UN system by instead exploring its involvement in informal global governance forums. These include the G7/G20, the Climate Club, and public-private initiatives such as Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
Because the research conducted in this project will provide a comparative perspective on global governance in health and other sectors like development finance, it will help Germany, its partners, and multilateral institutions better understand how to meet global (health) challenges. The research will also address questions of legitimacy, prioritization, and policy coordination, thereby helping to ensure that the involvement of private actors upholds fundamental rights, values, and accountability. The project is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
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