Bringing Leadership and Management Back In —Public Administration Perspectives on Global Governance in a Multipolar Era

The evolving landscape of global governance (GG), characterized by increasing transnational crises, rising non-state actors, and shifting power dynamics and growing geopolitics, presents a profound challenge to the traditional doctrine of international relations or economics. This special issue provides an integrated analysis of six articles to collectively argue that Public Administration (PA) offers a critical and uniquely valuable lens for understanding and addressing these challenges. Moving beyond state-centric power politics, these papers demonstrate that the core concerns of PA, covering institutional capacity, policy implementation, network management, and creation of public value, are fundamental to the effectiveness and legitimacy of global governance. This paper will explore how these articles contribute to current debates by introducing innovative theoretical frameworks and methodologies, summarize their key arguments, and critically reflect on their limitations to chart a path for future research.