The first in-depth analysis of how global governance impacts on the lives of ordinary people. This new volume includes four detailed case studies on labour, migration, children and development that explore the actual nature of governance policies in the GPE.

Jean Grugel and Nicola Piper clearly show how global governance, the creation of global norms and regimes to regulate polities, economic and social actors, suggests and promotes ideals such as stable politics, democracy, human rights and individualism, with a strategy to create a more ordered and ultimately better world.

They move away from the traditional focus on élites, states and global institutions to explore and analyze how liberal global governance is really affecting ordinary people and how this is often an obstacle to development, citizenship, voice and inclusion. Paying particular attention to the global South, Asia and Latin America, these expert authors trace the development of liberal global governance. They also clearly examine and study how this regulation has spread from areas such as trade and investment, to development, labour, migration, children and the environment.