Governmance and International Norms

Global governance in the current international system seems to be characterized by a paradox: a governance navigating between, on the one side, limits endured or accepted of actions of the States on the international scene, limits which seem to open the way to the global governance, and, on the other side the weakness of the results from the international organization which symbolizes the symbol of global governance, the UNO. Such a paradox has an impact on the debate on the international normativity. It arises while numerous analyses (McCarthy & Jones, 1995) underline the erosion of the capacity of governments to be the exclusive authorities of normativity on the international scene. In this perspective, two critics are raised: an erosion of the capacity to create norms, and an erosion of the capacity to have them respected. How, in this context, to analyze the question of international normativity with such the paradox underlined earlier? The aim of the present contribution is, in a first part, to clarify, from the observation of the transformation crisis of the State, the phenomenon of the shift from « government » towards « governance », and the contradictions and ambiguities revealed by such a shift in States behavior. These elements enable in a second part to define the phenomenon of “governemance” and to evaluate its impact on the question of international norms, a normativity which can be approached from a formal as well as informal perspective