Allison Carnegie and Richard Clark, "Global Governance Under Fire: How International Organizations Resist the Populist Wave" (Princeton UP, 2026)

Mar 2, 2026

Allison Carnegie, Columbia political scientist who studies international organizations, and Richard Clark, Notre Dame political scientist focused on global governance, discuss how international institutions actively resist populist attacks. They outline four defensive strategies, examine unintended effects like eroded legitimacy, and describe their multimethod research probing how IOs adapt and reshape politics.

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INSIGHT

IOs Actively Use Bureaucratic Autonomy

International organizations are autonomous bureaucracies with real agency to pursue survival strategies.
Carnegie and Richard Clark found IO staff have distance from member states and incentives to act even when powerful states are hostile.

INSIGHT

Study How IOs Are Changing Not Just Surviving

The book reframes the question from whether IOs will die to how they are changing in response to populism.
Carnegie emphasizes studying adaptation and operational change rather than simple survival metrics.

INSIGHT

Four IO Defensive Strategies In Practice

Carnegie and Clark identify four defensive strategies IOs use: appease leaders, appease publics, sideline leaders, and sideline publics.
NATO's handling of Turkey's objections to Sweden and Finland joining illustrates using all four tactics simultaneously (legal changes, diplomatic isolation, public messaging, closed meetings).

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Populist leaders around the world increasingly reject international organizations, decrying them as constraints on state power and rallying followers against the “global elite” who run them. These institutions—painstakingly built through decades of negotiation and multilateral cooperation—are often seen as passive bystanders, unable or unwilling to push back. In Global Governance Under Fire: How International Organizations Resist the Populist Wave (Princeton UP, 2026) Allison Carnegie and Richard Clark challenge this view, arguing that international organizations are, in fact, strategic agents with the tools to resist populist pressures. Offering fresh theoretical insights and original empirical analysis, they investigate how these institutions fight back and how their defensive strategies are reshaping global governance.
Using a multimethod approach that draws on novel data and qualitative evidence, Carnegie and Clark identify four key strategies that international organizations employ to both appease and sideline populists and their constituents. They find that while these strategies help fortify global governance against populist opposition, they may also produce unintended consequences, potentially eroding institutional legitimacy and fueling further resistance. A timely and compelling account, the book provides a crucial roadmap for understanding—and safeguarding—the global order.

Our guests are Professor Allison Carnegie, a professor of political science at Columbia University. and Professor Richard Clark, who is an assistant professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame

Our host is Eleonora Mattiacci, an Associate Professor of Political Science at Amherst College. She is the author of "Volatile States in International Politics" (Oxford University Press, 2023).

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