OPEN FOR APPLICATIONS NOW - VISIT the ELGS website NOW for more information and to apply.
The course will take place on the ELGS Campus in Sounion, Greece on 20-24 July 2026
Academic Supervision: Professor Sabino Cassese, former Judge, Constitutional Court of Italy
Supported by: Professor Edoardo Chiti, Full Professor of Administrative Law, Member of the Academic Senate, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa
Re-imagining the Sustainable Development Goals
Global challenges require coordinated responses that transcend territorial boundaries and political silos. Global administrative law (GAL)—the field concerned with the administrative mechanisms, procedures and accountability structures that operate beyond the nation-state—offers a conceptual toolbox for understanding and improving these responses.
Approaching global governance from this perspective, this year’s Global Administrative Law in Action Summer School explores how administrative-type norms and processes shape the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across institutional levels; from local authorities and national governments to regional organizations and global institutions.
The program focuses on the governance architecture of the SDGs, fifteen years after their adoption and just four years before the 2030 deadline. While the SDGs are formally universal, their implementation has relied on a complex interplay of multilateral institutions, domestic administrations, transnational networks, public-private partnerships and private standard-setting bodies. Yet, the simultaneous decline of trust in multilateralism, the emergence of fragmented regulatory regimes, and the rise of geopolitical rivalries have raised fundamental questions: Can the SDGs still deliver their transformative promise? And what role can GAL-inspired reforms play in revitalizing their governance framework?
To address these concerns, GAL 2026 will examine how different SDGs illustrate the strengths and limits of contemporary global administration. The program anchors its discussions around four Goals whose implementation particularly highlights tensions between multi-level governance and the weakening of multilateral cooperation.
Key topics include:
✅The Decline of Multilateralism and the Challenge of Meaningful Reconstruction: The Role of SDG 16 in the Reform of International Institutions
SDG 16—focused on peace, justice and strong institutions—sits at the heart of global governance. Its realization depends on the credibility, legitimacy and adaptability of international organizations themselves. Amid growing polarization, selective engagement with international norms, and contested institutional mandates, SDG 16 has become both a diagnostic lens and a reform imperative. GAL 2026 will examine how institutional transparency, participation, accountability and review mechanisms can support the reconstruction of an effective multilateral order capable of addressing global crises.
✅SDG 13 (Climate Action): Climate Governance Between Fragmentation and Coordinated Action
Climate policies increasingly emerge from a mosaic of actors: UN institutions, regional organizations, cities, private certification bodies and cross-border regulatory networks. This multi-layered governance landscape reflects both innovation and instability. GAL 2026 will analyze how administrative-law principles can structure interactions among these actors, enhance regulatory coherence, and support more equitable and science-based climate action.
✅ SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy): Energy Transitions and the Global Administrative State
Energy transitions require coordinated policies on technology, investment, regulation and market design. Yet national energy strategies often diverge, and geopolitical constraints impede collective action. GAL 2026 will explore how energy-sector governance—shaped by technical standardization bodies, cross-border regulators, international partnerships, and global financial institutions—can address the urgent need for clean, stable and affordable energy while managing competing domestic and international priorities.
✅ SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities): Global Redistribution, Development Finance and the Limits of Multilateral Solidarity
SDG 10 brings into focus global inequalities and the distributive dimension of international regulation. The fragmented governance of development finance, conditionality frameworks, debt restructuring and global taxation illustrates both the capacities and weaknesses of multilateral institutions. The program will consider how GAL principles can promote fairer decision-making processes, more transparent financial governance, and equitable participation of developing states in global administrative bodies.
Taken together, these four SDGs highlight a central theme of GAL 2026: the tension between the need for coordinated global governance and the growing constraints on multilateral action. Through the lens of global administrative law, participants will assess:
- how effectively existing institutions and regulatory networks have contributed to the realization of the selected SDGs, and
- whether institutional innovation or deeper reforms are required to administer future global challenges.
Who should apply?
The GAL summer program aims to attract a diverse cohort of participants—advanced students in law (LLM, PhD) and political science (MA, PhD), early-career practitioners in international organizations, policy-makers, members of domestic administrations and legal professionals seeking to deepen their understanding of global regulation. The program offers a unique forum for critical engagement, comparative analysis and interdisciplinary dialogue on the administrative structures that shape global governance beyond the State.
Cost of the Program:
The cost is 490€ and includes a study visit, tuition fees and a welcome lunch.
Accommodation: Students are invited to secure their own accommodation and transportation. Participants may also choose to stay at the EPLO Guesthouse in Legrena, Sounion. Kindly note that this offer is available on a first-come-first-served basis. For further information, participants are welcome to contact us
Facilities: The program takes place at EPLO facilities in Legrena, Sounion, one hour away from Athens by car, overlook the Aegean Sea and are located by the bay of Cape Sounion, where the ancient Temple of Poseidon rests. Participants will have access to EPLO facilities, which include a resource library, study room, and sports facilities.
Students are encouraged to bring a laptop in order to study relevant references and reading material including statistics, maps, reports, scientific articles on aspects of the phenomenon of migration and refugee flows and presentations used by the speakers.
Applications deadline: June 30, 2026
How to apply: Applicants should submit an up to date CV and letter of motivation in English to summerschools@elgs.eu, T: +30 2113110 671 by June 30, 2026.
Practical Information:
Courses will take place on a daily basis, from Monday to Thursday between 10:00 to 17:00 at the EPLO premises in Legrena, while on Friday participants will take part in study visits in Athens, for which transportation is provided by the program. Accommodation in Sounion is especially recommended for the first four days, to fully attend the courses and participate in the week’s activities, while after the field trip on Friday, participants may choose to extend their stay in Athens or depart as they wish.
