This seminar with Christian O Christiansen reconstructs changing ways of thinking about global economic inequality in international arenas since the mid-twentieth century.
Drawing on a wide range of sources, it traces how actors—particularly within the United Nations—developed and advanced competing approaches to global equality, from ambitious projects of redistribution and structural reform to later, more technocratic framings. The talk identifies the 1970s as a peak moment for efforts to “design” global equality, followed by a shift in the 1980s that redefined the terms of debate. By tracing these developments, the presentation offers historical context for the re-emergence of inequality as a central global issue in recent decades, raising questions for the study of peace, diplomacy, and multilateral affairs.
