Berlin - Shanghai - Washington D. C.

"Now is the time to build new bridges across the globe as strong as the one that bound us across the Atlantic," affirmed US President Barack Obama when speaking in Berlin in the summer of 2008. To turn this vision into reality, Global Governance 2020 (GG2020) seeks to forge a strong and lasting strategic community of young leaders from China, Germany, and the United States. The program aimed to connect those who have the ambition and imagination to shape the future of international institutions.

In the course of three dialogue sessions in Berlin, Shanghai, and Washington D.C. between January 2010 and January 2011, twenty-four GG2020 fellows, eight each from China, Germany and the US, developed scenarios for the future of international institutions in the areas of nuclear non-proliferation, climate change, economic governance. They drew on their diversity of backgrounds and experiences and explored new ways of effective global problem-solving.

With the help of innovative approaches, from trend analysis and scenario planning to institutional design, GG2020 fellows jointly explored possible paths of development, discussed fundamental normative questions and ultimately created scenarios for the role and shape of international institutions for the year 2020. GG2020 provided a framework for thinking about the leadership skills that are necessary to turn desirable scenarios into reality. The twenty-four GG2020 fellows, selected from a highly competitive pool by the GG2020 Steering Committee of senior policymakers and academics, will disseminate their results through op-eds, policy papers, high-profile presentations and the GG2020 website.