Tuesday session (with no break)
Governance and Citizenship - Workshop 1
The meeting began with the delegates briefly introducing themselves. The
meeting included representatives of Brazil, India, Canada, Philippines,
France, United Kingdom, USA, India, Italy, Norwegian, South Africa, New
Zealand, Belgium, Germany,
Senegal, Rwanda, Argentina, Poland and Argentina, and of organizations
concerned with government, sustainable development, education, the media,
rural workers, as well as students of political science.
Hillel Schwartz (USA) presented a draft of the kind of declaration that
might be offered at the end of the meeting.
Candido G. gave an introduction to the work of the group.
There is a linguistic problem, because equivalent words in other languages
to the word "government" in English do not have the same broad implications
as the English word. This having been said, the aim of the theme
"governance" is to find models for political regulation suited to a world
which is politically and environmentally globalized. Three linguistic
groups were proposed: Spanish / Portuguese, French, and English. Each group
is to write a phrase on each of 4 questions. The questions are: how do we
express the necessity for a new model for world political order; on what
should we base this new order; how should political practices change within
this new order; what does new citizenship mean; what models already exist
for this new order.
There is a linguistic problem, because equivalent words in other languages
to the word "government" in English do not have the same broad implications
as the English word. This having been said, the aim of the theme
"governance" is to find models for political regulation suited to a world
which is politically and environmentally globalized. Three linguistic
groups were proposed: Spanish / Portuguese, French, and English. Each group
is to write a phrase on each of 4 questions. The questions are: how do we
express the necessity for a new model for world political order; on what
should we base this new order; how should political practices change within
this new order; what does new citizenship mean; what models already exist
for this new order.
On returning, the spokesperson of the French group pointed to the
shortcomings of the present system in that it cannot harmonize political
and environmental issues and it is not equipped to deal with global issues.
The English group identified 12 areas in which the traditional world order
is inadequate. The traditional order has not been able to solve problems
such as social injustice, terrorism, the cold war, etc. The new order must
be concerned with the welfare of individuals rather than impersonal
nations, and must involve genuine participation of all peoples and a
redistribution of wealth. The issue of participatory democracy was regarded
as important, and one practical expression of this would be the
participation of groups other than governmental representatives in the
United Nations.
The Spanish/Portuguese group identified the inability of the present order
to resolve social and environmental problems.
Francois (France) returned to the difference in meaning between governance
and government. What is necessary is to change the structure of power, and
the instrument for this change is the people working as a whole.
Hans (Germany) supported this opinion, saying that governments on their own
will not take the decisions which are necessary to make the world more
just, but will only do so under the force of popular pressure.
Another question put forward by the Facilitator was that of how to reform
democracy to make it more democratic - the S. American group identified the
institutionalism of democracy as a problem.
David (Rwanda) mentioned that there was a danger of turning the issue of
how to change political practices into merely a technical issue,
effectively depoliticizing it.
Jan van Ecke (S. Africa) noted that the route to getting more
representative world government is to establish democracy at the lowest
level, rather than at the international level, where many national
governments are not representative. The problem of rule by the elite in
Africa, etc., is that many were nominally elected: this problem needs to
be addressed.
Rob Wheeler (USA) encouraged a move towards so-called organic processes in
which people are encouraged to find their own models, rather than
suggesting or enforcing models from outside.
Pierre Calame reviewed the thinking of the Alliance on governance, and the
concept of drawing from the local level and applying this to the global
level; he affirmed his belief that we have the available resources.
Felipe (Brazil) emphasized the key role of consumerism in the process of
changing governance: firstly because all people want to be consumers, and
secondly because of the power of consumers over the economy.
Ross Robertson (New Zealand) raised the question of the difference between
the Western concept of government emphasizing individual rights, and the
Asian concept emphasizing the coherence of society. Human rights are
universal but cultural values as far as liberty is concerned differ, and
what is needed is dialogue, rather than antagonism.
Pyotr (Poland) argued that the model of governance suggested by Pierre
Calame is one which might function for states which have a long tradition
of real democracy, but in states which do not have this tradition this
broader model cannot substitute the establishment of democracy at the
national level.
The facilitator then reviewed the process that the meeting had gone
through, and noted the elements that need to be elaborated on.
The meeting ended.