Global Cleav-Age
Permanent and Climate Diplomacy through the Prism of Age
Chaire de recherche FSR, UCLouvain (2024-2026)
Abstract
Would the world be different if it was ruled by younger people?
Would a different age distribution in global policy-making help solve global governance challenges by attenuating cleavages?
The Global Cleav-Age project answers these questions by studying the effects of the age of diplomats engaged in climate change diplomacy and in United Nations permanent missions’ diplomacy on classical cleavages such as the North/South divide, the democratic disconnect and the long-term/short-term dynamics at the global level. Age is used as a specific angle to analyze much broader questions about inclusion, decision-making and legitimacy at the global level.
Team
Amandine Orsini, Chair holder
Clarisse Lefebvre, Research Assistant (2025-2026)
Clarisse Lefebvre holds a Bachelor in communication science from UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles, where she is currently studying to get a second Bachelor in political science. She is passionate about political communication and international relations, and is looking to further pursue her studies in both fields.
Denise Badran, Research Assistant (2025-2026)
Denise Badran has recently completed her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science, bilingual (French and English) format at UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles and is now pursuing a Master’s in International Relations. Her passion for research and international affairs led her to take part in this project. During her Bachelor, she was actively involved in various university activities, such as being Head Delegate of her delegation at BelgaMUN (2024–2025) and winning an Honorable Mention at LiMUN (2025), acting as university representative for Political Science students (2023–2025), and supporting fellow students facing academic difficulties.
Mariam Mahyou, Research Assistant (2025-2026)
Mariam Mahyou is a graduated Bachelor in Political Science in a bilingual (French-English) programme at UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles. She is planning on doing a Master’s degree in Anthropology but is also very interested in International Relations and this is why she joined the Global Cleav-Age project.
Outputs
[Research data note n°1]
Badran, Denise, Mahyou, Mariam and Amandine Orsini. 2025
Researching the age of diplomats. The case of the Permanent Missions to the United Nations. Global Cleav-Age Research data note, n° 1. 7p.
Available upon request by sending an email to amandine.orsini@uclouvain.be
Events
Conference
Orsini, Amandine, Badran, Denise and Clarisse Lefebvre. Diplomacy and Identity. Researching Age in Permanent Missions at the United Nations. Diplomatic Studies Programme
Oxford Lifelong Learning, Oxford, 11/11/2025
3-28 November, 2025
Oxford Climate Policy
Orsini, Amandine, research stay of one month (3-28 November) at Oxford Climate Policy, Oxford, UK, to work on age and politics, especially with regards to climate diplomacy.
March 21st 2025
Orsini, Amandine, Badran Denise and Mahyou Mariam. Preparation of the ceremony to award António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General an honorary doctorate from the universities of KU Leuven and UCLouvain.
Among others, we prepared two questions for the Secretary General:
Want to know what he answered?
6-13 March, 2025
University of Ottawa
Orsini, Amandine, research stay of one week (6-13 March) at the University of Ottawa to work with Daniel Stockemer on age and politics, national and international perspectives.
2 March 2025
International Studies Associations Annual Convention, Chicago
Orsini, Amandine. Discussant Panel on Democratic Transformation of Global Governance through Reflexivity, International Studies Associations Annual Convention, Chicago, 2 March 2025.
18 February, 2025
UN Population Office, New-York
Orsini Amandine. Global Cleav-Age. On the challenge to collect data on the age of global policy makers. UN Population Office, New York, 18/02/2025.
9 February to 01 March 2025
City University of New-York
04-13 March 2025
Ottawa University, Canada
Orsini, Amandine. FNRS fellowship for research stay at the City University New York, USA (9/02/2025-01/03/2025) and at Ottawa University, Canada (04/03/2025-13/03/2025), to discuss data collection strategy on age in global policymaking.
23 & 24 January 2025
IBEI Barcelona
Orsini, Amandine. Youth liminality for a world reorder in times of crises. Barcelona Workshop on Global Governance “contesting the Global Order”. 23-24 January 2025, IBEI Barcelona.
