Notes
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On the global governance of existential risks
Existential risks are governed, when they are governed at all, by institutions designed for other purposes. This note sets out why that mismatch is structural rather than accidental, and sketches three institutional forms that would fit the problem better than the ones we currently have.
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On the Montreal Protocol’s effectiveness in averting a major risk for humanity
The Montreal Protocol is the treaty most often cited as proof that coordinated global action on a planetary risk is possible. This note looks at what actually made it work, and at how much of that is transferable to the risks now in front of us. The honest answer is: less than the analogy usually implies.
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On compliance with national law in UN projects
United Nations projects operate under privileges and immunities that sit uneasily beside the national legal orders of the countries they serve. This note asks what compliance should mean in practice when the two regimes point in different directions, and argues for a working rule that is neither blanket deference nor blanket exemption.