The world is experiencing a series of natural and geopolitical challenges, such as deglobalization, climate crisis, widening income inequalities, and heightened US-China tensions. This has led to an era of ‘polycrisis’, a term coined by the World Economic Forum in the Global Risks Report (2023), highlighting the compounding effects of these interconnected and simultaneous risks. At a time of great crises and changes, resilience, sustainability, and inclusivity are becoming increasingly essential in building and delivering Common Good for the society at large.
The Common Good refers to shared objective(s) to be reached together by policymakers in collaboration with various stakeholders toward the well-being of the entire community beyond the vested interests of selected individuals and interest groups (Mazzucato, 2023). The Common Good brings to our attention what policy practices, programs, and service provisions work for us. In comparison with the Global North, which tends to define and shape research agendas and governance practices, the Global South experiences in building the common good is becoming even more crucial in coping with polycrises and their wider implications. The involvement and empowerment of non-state actors in building and sustaining the Common Good also calls for greater scholarly and policy attention on reconceptualising the term, which used to be defined narrowly by economic metrics such as GDP and the technocratic merit of policymakers (Sandel, 2020). In the meantime, it is essential to bridge the divide between research and practice by forging constructive dialogues among academics and practitioners.
This special issue seeks manuscripts that explore how the Global South, collectively and individually, contribute to the research and practice for the Common Good in governance and public administration. We welcome theoretical, comparative, and empirical papers exploring how the Common Good has been or should be realised in an era of ‘polycrisis’ in the Global South, and the opportunities, obstacles, and policy recommendations in the quest towards bridging the research-practice divide. Topical areas include, but not limited to:
- Comparative Studies and Perspectives on the Common Good in the Global North versus the Global South
- State of Field Research on the Common Good in the Global South
- Common Good in Governance and Policymaking in the Global South
- Economic Cooperation and Competition in Regional and Global Perspectives
- Sustainable, Resilient, and Inclusive Development
- Collaborative Governance, Co-creation, and Co-production of Public Services
- Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG)
- NGOs and the Philanthropy Sector in Coping with Social Issues
- Information, Misinformation, and Infodemic(s)
