Conclusion

Abstract By recapping how civil society interacts with international organizations, states, and industries in the politics of modality selection, the concluding chapter reflects on the broader implications of the book’s findings. It first situates the argument within the literature on global public-private collaborations, challenging the traditional debate over the state vs. market by revealing a more complex landscape of political contestation. The chapter then explores how civil society formulates its policy preferences in relation to specific industries and issue areas. Next, the chapter considers the generalizability of the theoretical framework beyond global health. It assesses the applicability of the findings based on four key factors: the density of transnational civil society, state preferences, IGO openness and vulnerability, and industry characteristics. It tentatively argues that this study’s findings can potentially inform sectors such as development, education, environment, human rights, and technology, while it may be hard to apply to security, finance, and trade. Finally, the chapter returns to the normative question of civil society’s democratizing potential in global governance. It offers a renewed perspective on democratic quality of contemporary global governance, emphasizing civil society’s influence in modality selection. Building on the case study findings, it highlights civil society’s role in bridging global health policy making with those affected by the decisions. The future of global health governance, it argues, depends on strengthening democratic representation within global civil society and navigating the challenges of consensus-based decision making.