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Harris Gleckman Associate

Our people — Associate

Harris Gleckman is a senior fellow at the Center for Governance and Sustainability at the University of Massachusetts Boston and Director of Benchmark Environmental Consulting. He has a PhD in Sociology from Brandeis University.

Harris was a staff member of the UN Centre on Transnational Corporations, head of the NY office of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, and an early member of the staff for the 2002 Monterey Conference on Financing for Development. His current areas of interests are multistakeholderism (2018 Routledge book), multistakeholderism and power relations in the North’s response to COVID (2022 TNI and FOEI report), and democratic global governance with the Foundation for Global Governance and Sustainability.

See Harris Gleckman's Linkedin profile.

Latest work

  • Transforming the Non-Military Structures of Global Governance Assessing Priorities for Chapter 5 of the Pact for the Future

    Multistakeholderism
    Cover image

    The complex web of challenges – climate change, pandemics, inequality, and conflict – demands robust global governance. The current UN-centered system is seen as inadequate. This document analyzes proposed UN reforms in the Summit of the Future context, prioritizing politically achievable solutions to climate change, inequality, and conflict. It highlights the need for institutional, consultative, decision-making, and financial reforms to enhance UN effectiveness and democratic representation. 

    Paper by
    Harris Gleckman

  • Multistakeholderism Is it good for developing countries?

    Multistakeholderism
    Multistakeholderism: Is it good for developing countries?

    The preparations for the September 2024 Summit of the Future (SOTF) are well underway. In this process, the UN Secretary-General and most OECD countries argue that multistakeholderism should now be accepted as a part of global governance and multilateralism. This paper argues the opposite: multistakeholderism undermines multilateralism and limits the role of developing countries in global governance.

    Report by
    Harris Gleckman

  • The Three COVID crises and Multistakeholderism Impacts on the Global South

    • Multistakeholderism
    • COVID-19

    This new report from the Transnational Institute and Friends of the Earth International explores the role of multistakeholderism in the COVID crises, when multistakeholder initiatives, working outside the multilateral system, acted as governing bodies. A follow-up to COVAX, a joint study published in March 2021, this report situates COVID-related multistakeholder undertakings within the overall strategy of the Global North towards the Global South.

    Report by
    Harris Gleckman
See all work by Harris Gleckman