Today, movements that are pitching themselves against “globalism” are attracting widespread attention. While in many cases, such arguments are being presented in the name of national sovereignty, mistrust of the existing or potential mechanisms for global governance is not confined to one particular part of the political spectrum, especially when it comes to questions of representation and legitimacy. If citizens lack trust in international cooperation, it can have wide-ranging implications: it risks undermining cross-border efforts to tackle global challenges in a range of different fields, from humanitarian relief and conflict resolution to health and the environment. “Global Governance, Trust and Democratic Engagement in Past and Present” (GLO) addresses this contemporary problem from a historical perspective: it traces popular engagement with bodies that sought to regulate or resolve global matters, from the aftermath of the First World War to the early 2000s.

GLO pursues two major lines of enquiry. First, it examines campaigns that sought to create, reform, transform or abolish international organizations. In doing so, it highlights the democratic potentials and lacunae of international organizations while tracing broader efforts to democratize international relations. Second, the project investigates attempts by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and social movements to enlist the support of international bodies, partly in response to the obstacles they encountered domestically. Such endeavours implied a degree of trust in the ability of international organizations to become tools for positive change. By recovering the past relationship between political participation, democracy and international institutions, the project enables us to better understand how we might reimagine global cooperative mechanisms in the present.