About us

Aims and Research Agenda

The Gothenburg Centre for Globalization and Development (GCGD) seeks to integrate and develop research on globalization at the University of Gothenburg. We arrange seminars, workshops and conferences, and support research projects on globalization and development. Our ultimate goal is to produce top-quality, multidisciplinary research across the field of globalization and development. 

The starting point for our research agenda is that the global community has agreed to work for sustainable global development, while at the same time, the global system designed to help bring this about looks more fragile and less sustainable than it has done for a long time. It is noted in the Sustainable Development Goal (SGD) documents that each country holds the primary responsibility for its own economic and social development. However, this can be facilitated by external assistance and by the organisation of global social, economic and political systems. It is the latter dimensions that will be the focus of the GCGD research programme. Successful political actions to reduce injustices in the world and to achieve the SDGs depend on the provision of comprehensive, scientific facts and understanding of the issues involved.

Presently, researchers from a wide range of fields collaborate under the auspices of GCGD. Our aim is to further broaden the reach of GCGD across GU and Chalmers while at the same time honing the focus of a common research agenda.

Mission 

Since its start in 2009, the Centre has supported and will continue to support, a broad range of research activities on globalization and development, but during 2019/2020, our primary focus will be on populism’s challenges to sustainable global development within the current ‘anti-globalization’ and ‘post-globalization’ trends.

Research questions

This programme of the GCGD draws on the ways in which development is being reinvented by populism, namely how global sustainable development will be achieved when international collaboration and exchange are increasingly challenged. We will focus on facilitating interdisciplinary discussions and research projects that address some of the following questions:

• Is the current populist trend an expression of lack of confidence in globalization?
• What are the consequences of populist governments for development policies/processes
• How are different states and social movements reinterpreting globalization de/globalization trends?
• How have the politics of identity shifted in light of these trends?
• What are the sources of current heightened opposition to increased global transactions and interdependencies, as well the associated global governance?
• What strategies of ‘re-globalization’ are available, including reform and transformation of the rules and institutions that govern the global political economy?
• How has violence been normalized in this new age of anti-globalization and right-wing politics?
• In particular, how can inclusive democratic citizenship and sovereignty obtain due voice and influence in revitalized global cooperation both in the global south and north?

New Leadership

In August 2018, the leadership of GCGD shifted from Professor Arne Bigsten (School of Business, Economics, and Law) to Professor Maria Stern (School of Global Studies), although Arne Bigsten and Maria Stern will together shepherd GCGD into its next phase as a centre. Importantly, this move to School of Global Studies (SGS) continues and develop in the same spirit of interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary dialogue that has flourished during its growth at School of Business, Economics and Law.

During 2019/2020, Swati Parashar, Associate Professor, will be acting as GCGD Director.

Associate Professor Swati Parashar
Director of GCGD
School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg
E-mail: swati.parashar@gu.se
Phone: +46 31 786 4401

Professor Maria Stern
Former Director of GCGD
School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg
E-mail: maria.stern@globalstudies.gu.se
Phone: +46 31 786 4676

Professor Arne Bigsten
Former Director of GCGD
Department of Economics, University of Gothenburg
E-mail: arne.bigsten@economics.gu.se
Phone: +46 (0)31 786 1358

Emeritus Professor Claes-Göran Alvstam
Department of Business Administration, University of Gothenburg
E-mail:claes.alvstam@handels.gu.se
Phone: +46 (0)31 786 1385

Professor Adel Daoud
Department of Sociology and Work Science, University of Gothenburg
E-mail: adel.daoud@socav.gu.se
Phone: +46 (0)31 786 4924

Dr Pelle Ahlerup 
Department of Economics, University of Gothenburg
E-mail: pelle.ahlerup@economics.gu.se
Phone: +46 (0)31 786 1370

Dr Ruy Blanes
School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg
E-mail: ruy.blanes@gu.se
Phone: +46 (0)31 786 6964

Professor Ari Kokko
Department of Economics, University of Gothenburg

Associate Professor Madelene Ostwald
GMV-Centre for Environment and Sustainability
University of Gothenburg and Chalmers University of Technology
E-mail: madelene.ostwald@chalmers.se
Phone: +46 (0)708 519311

Associate Professor Anna Persson
Department of Political Science, University of Gothenburg
E-mail: anna.persson@pol.gu.se
Phone: +46 31 786 4947

Professor Jan Aart Scholte
School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg
E-mail: jan.scholte@globalstudies.gu.se
Phone: +46 (0)31 786 4940