United Nations University Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies

UNU-CRIS aims at being an academically excellent institute focused on problem-solving and policy-relevant research into the impact of regional integration on policymaking across all levels of political organization. Over the years, it has shifted its focus to look specifically to the role of regionalization in helping to pursue the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and to help solving what is now increasingly understood to be a global ‘trilemma’ namely: how can regions help provide both sustainable growth and democracy in a globalizing world when globalization itself poses challenges to the traditional nation-state? Operational since 2001, UNU-CRIS has a track record of generating policy-relevant knowledge about new forms of governance and cooperation and to contribute to capacity building on issues of integration and cooperation, particularly in developing countries.