Exploring Everyday Practices within Systems of Global Governance – Does Process Matter?
The changes that have taken place during the last ten years in the structure of development assistance and diplomacy have influenced the way states engage with one another at both national and international levels – and the two levels of engagement are inter-linked. It influences the legitimacy and functioning of both international mechanisms such as the Universal Periodic Review (where inter-state engagement takes place both at national and international levels but the focus is on the latter) and nationally-driven but donor supported mechanisms aimed at promoting peacebuilding such as the Nepal Peace Trust Fund. Macro-level structural changes have an impact on micro-level practices and processes of engagement, which again have an impact on macro-level governance systems and international relations as they play out in inter-state relations at international and national levels. These dynamics are however underexplored. The research will provide an enhanced understanding of processes of engagement and interaction between state actors and between states and other actors (including NGOs and “interveners”) in spaces for strengthening human rights and peacebuilding, and the institutional framework within which these processes of engagement are embedded. It will discuss the influence of these processes on the space within which it is possible (and/or conceivable) for state actors to create positive changes in relation to broader human rights and peacebuilding goals.