Charles Léopold Mayer Foundation

the axes of the alliance and those of the world citizens assembly

Classification of Proposals Resulting from the Alliance Workshops and Networks around Axes and their Comparison with the Themes Resulting from the World Citizens Assembly in Lille

FPH

Contents

Chapter 1 
Promoting an ethical approach based on responsibility, peace, tolerance and pluralism; translating this awareness into action
	
Axis 1.1: Promote peace ethics
Axis 1.2: Promote pluralism
Axis 1.3: Develop socially responsible awareness in different sectors of society
Axis 1.4: Develop a sense of social responsibility and participatory management in companies
Axis 1.5: Promote socially responsible consumption

Chapter 2
Changing our vision of the planet and promoting an education designed for all, which also prepares individuals and societies to meet the challenges of the twenty-first Century, in particular in the realm of the Environment; developing tools that allow people to understand each other and are at the service of society as a whole 

Axis 2.1: Change our relation to the planet by promoting environmental education and research

Chapter 3 
Designing a new approach to the economy that is at the service of society as a whole and of the protection of the biosphere
 
Axis 3.1: Promote ecological sustainability in economic activities
Axis 3.2: Promote a sustainable economy based on solidarity, by effectively measuring the social capital it generates
Axis 3.3: Enhance solidarity and integration processes all along the entire economic chain
Axis 3.4: Appreciate any contribution to economic life whatever its nature, its monetary or commodity form, and its status.

Chapter 4
Setting up at all levels, from the local to the global, a legitimate, democratic and efficient governance 

Axis 4.1: Create the conditions of efficient public action: legislative effectiveness; capacity to redefine institutions and policies, in order to meet challenges; effectively implementing international conventions 
Axis 4.2: Ensure that the exercise of authority is transparent and that citizens are able to exercise an efficient control on those who govern 
Axis 4.3: Finance public policies by establishing efficient and equitable taxing systems in order to meet common challenges at different levels. 
Axis 4.4: Reinforce the consistency of public policies
Axis 4.5: Ensure that while local societies are in control of their own future, their resources, and their management, different levels of governance cooperate to take responsibility for the interdependent aspects (active subsidiarity)
Axis 4.6: Promote democratic governance and active citizenship.

Chapter 5
Supporting the international organization of different socioprofessional spheres and social actors who are aware of their responsibilities; building partnerships between these actors and public authorities, with a clear distinction of their respective roles.

Axis 5.1: Reinforce the organization and the political, economic and social capacity of various sectors and groups of actors 
Axis 5.2: Set up a partnership relation between public authorities and actors in the society, ensure a fair distribution of their respective roles

Chapter 6
Readjusting governance mechanisms to benefit weaker social groups or countries, so as to allow them to participate in world affairs, to enjoy true rights, to acquire the actual capacity to exercise those rights, and to become full-fledged citizens 

Axis 6.1: Readjust governance mechanisms to benefit weaker social groups or countries, so as to allow them to participate in world affairs, to enjoy true rights, to acquire the actual capacity to exercise those rights, and to become full-fledged citizens

Chapter 7 
Creating new public regulations and opposing the domination of mercantile relations in order to meet the new challenges facing humankind, in particular those relating to the protection and management of the biosphere 

Axis 7.1: Set up public regulations allowing humankind to meet new ecological and social challenges and the new scales of such challenges
Axis 7.2: Define, protect and manage all common links, whether local or global, and make them accessible to all citizens
Axis 7.3: Reform the monetary systems
Axis 7.4: Establish new international financial regulations
Axis 7.5: Design and implement international exchange regulations based on economic subsidiarity.

Introduction: Method Used to Build the Alliance's Strategic Axes and the Themes for the World Citizens Assembly held in Lille on December 2-12, 2001

Strategic Axes Resulting from the Alliance Work 

In the framework of the Alliance, each work group, workshop or socioprofessional network was invited to chart a map of its proposals to show how they relate to the different realms of human activity. These maps were divided according to the four Alliance Thematic Workgroups: representations (values, culture, art, science, technology, education, the media); economy and society (social organization, spatial organization; the organization of production, the organization of exchanges, money and financial flows); governance (political citizenship, law, local governance, the state and regional integration, global governance); the relation between humankind and the rest of the biosphere (the ecosystem, air and climate, water, soils, energy). This streamlined presentation allowed us to perform a compilation of the proposals submitted by the groups.

Starting from this preliminary work, we analyzed the major themes around which these proposals were grouped. This process was executed through several stages: we classified together proposals relating to the same sector of human activity, then those that related to the same thematic workgroup; finally, we compared the strategic axes originating from different thematic workgroups. Thus, we were able to discover that a limited number of strategic axes appeared behind different formulations and in different realms of human activity. These axes allow us to identify, through a "bottom-up" approach, the broad orientations for change that should prevail during the coming decades. Around twenty strategic axes were thus identified, and they were classified in seven chapters. 

The Work Themes of the World Assembly

At the World Citizens Assembly held in Lille on December 2-12, 2001, the great majority of the participants had not taken part in the preliminary work sessions of the Alliance, and in particular in the drafting of the Proposals Papers. By their geographic and cultural origin, they were indeed much more diversified and representative of world society than the people who had participated in the Alliance's work sessions. Therefore we did not wish to impose on the Assembly an agenda following the strict lines of the Alliance work. On the contrary, since the goal was to prefigure a World Parliament that would determine its own agenda, we sought to let the Assembly itself identify the axes of change. From the very start, two axes of change were indeed planned for the Assembly: the project of a Charter of Human Responsibilities and the drafting of a Strategy for Change in the Twenty-first Century.

To implement this process, we adopted the following method. On the first day of the Assembly, the participants met in twenty socioprofessional network groups, that is in workshops of around twenty persons, regrouping people of a similar social and professional sphere. 
In each workshop, each participant was invited to voice whatever he/she considered urgent to change, with instructions to distribute these proposals among the thematic workgroups described above. Each "socioprofessional network" workshop was thereby able to gather approximately one hundred statements of necessary changes; then it merged the participants' proposals into twenty or so statements. Thus, we obtained approximately four hundred proposals for the twenty workshops. The same cartographic tool allowed us to compare the proposals of the different workshops, and then to classify and regroup these proposals. We were thereby able to identify seventeen common themes, which served as a basis for the Assembly to deepen its understanding of the Alliance's thematic axes.

Since the two methods were similar, it is interesting to compare the results. They are complementary; furthermore, in spite of quite different presentations, the seventeen themes can be classified and regrouped in the same seven chapters as the strategic axes of the Alliance. The following document presents these results.

Important note: 

a)	This is a provisional version of my document: the summary of proposals on the Workgroup 1 "representations" has not yet been fully integrated.
b)	The crucial relevance of governance issues that appears in the summary is all the more significant as the specific governance workshops (management of territories, common principles of governance, global governance) have not yet been integrated in the analysis

Chapter 1 
Promoting an ethical approach based on responsibility, peace, tolerance and pluralism; translating this awareness into action 

This chapter is based on the following conviction: to build a viable world, it is absolutely necessary to build a system of values and of ethical priorities broadly shared on a world scale and capable of giving rise to an authentic socially responsible awareness, and this awareness must be implemented in practice. External constraints are not sufficient, even if these shared ethical values also take the form of a set of legislative regulations.

Strategic Axes of the Alliance

Axis 1.1: Promote peace ethics
Axis 1.2: Promote pluralism
Axis 1.3: Develop socially responsible awareness in different sectors of society
Axis 1.4: Develop a sense of social responsibility and participatory management in companies
Axis 1.5: Promote socially responsible consumption	Priority Themes of the Assembly

Theme 1: An ethics of responsibility for the twenty-first century
Theme 2: Unity and diversity; cultural identity and globalization, tolerance, autonomy and diversity.
Theme 3: Mutual respect, tolerance and inter-cultural dialogue 	

Chapter 2
Changing our vision of the planet and promoting an education designed for all, which also prepares individuals and societies to meet the challenges of the twenty-first Century, in particular in the realm of the Environment; developing tools that allow people to understand each other and are at the service of society as a whole 

This chapter is based on the following conviction: our systems of thinking, our educational system, our ways of developing science and technology, the information tools we have at our disposal (through the media) and our sensitive perception of the world (through art and culture) are not accessible to all people and do not prepare us to really understand the challenges of tomorrow and to act collectively and in solidarity to these challenges. It invites everybody, artists, journalists, scientists, and educators to rethink their approach at the service of society. 

Strategic Axes of the Alliance

Axis 2.1: Change our relation to the planet by promoting environmental education and research
	Priority Themes of the Assembly

Theme 4: Science and technology at the service of sustainable development 
Theme 5: Education accessible to all and preparing individuals and societies to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century
Theme 6: Free media that help people to understand the world, to exert their democratic control and to implement socially responsible actions.	

Chapter 3 
Designing a new approach to the economy that is at the service of society as a whole and of the protection of the biosphere
 
This chapter is based on the following conviction: we cannot ensure a harmonious, equitable, united and sustainable development if we persist in our current way of conceiving the economy, the organization of enterprises and of productive systems, the role of the market, and if we continue to measure human activity by monetary criteria. It summarizes a certain number of attempts to think differently in terms of production and consumer systems and to promote a different approach to human activity.

Strategic Axes of the Alliance

Axis 3.1: Promote ecological sustainability in economic activities
Axis 3.2: Promote a sustainable economy based on solidarity, by effectively measuring the social capital it generates
Axis 3.3: Enhance solidarity and integration processes all along the entire economic chain
Axis 3.4: Appreciate any contribution to economic life whatever its nature, its monetary or commodity form, and its status.
	Priority Themes of the Assembly

Theme 7: Alternative production and consumer systems to cope with limited resources and a vulnerable environment
Theme 8: A local development encouraging initiatives and access to culture for all 
Theme 9: Solidarity and economic alternatives, from the local level to the global level

Chapter 4
Setting up at all levels, from the local to the global, a legitimate, democratic and efficient governance 

This chapter, as the three following ones, is based on the following conviction: it is necessary and urgent to implement a profound and far-reaching reform of governance, that is, of the social, political, legal and administrative regulations created by societies to manage their development from the local level all the way up to the global level. This chapter is the first one dealing with governance. It focuses on public regulations: their legitimacy, their democratic nature, and their efficiency. Legitimacy implies that we are aware of the fact that constraints and power are exercised for the common good. Democracy implies that citizens can actually take part in managing the community and can intervene in the major choices involving its future. Efficiency is based on the fact that regulations are adequate and relevant to the legislative orientations that have been defined, and that they allow us to apply these orientations. 

Strategic Axes of the Alliance

Axis 4.1: Create the conditions of efficient public action: legislative effectiveness; capacity to redefine institutions and policies, in order to meet challenges; effectively implementing international conventions 
Axis 4.2: Ensure that the exercise of authority is transparent and that citizens are able to exercise an efficient control on those who govern 
Axis 4.3: Finance public policies by establishing efficient and equitable taxing systems in order to meet common challenges at different levels. 
Axis 4.4: Reinforce the consistency of public policies
Axis 4.5: Ensure that while local societies are in control of their own future, their resources, and their management, different levels of governance cooperate to take responsibility for the interdependent aspects (active subsidiarity)

	Priority Themes of the Assembly

Theme 13: Transparence, responsibility and participation at all levels of governance
Theme 15: Reform the state	

Chapter 5
Supporting the international organization of different socioprofessional spheres and social actors who are aware of their responsibilities; building partnerships between these actors and public authorities, with a clear distinction of their respective roles

This chapter is based on the following conviction: the regulations required to manage our planet, which is at the same time unique and diversified, from the local to the global level, imply that the different economic and social actors are able to organize and build structures, in particular on a world scale -- in order to influence dynamic processes that are themselves global; furthermore, we must design new partnerships between the actors themselves and public authorities.

Strategic Axes of the Alliance

Axis 5.1: Reinforce the organization and the political, economic and social capacity of various sectors and groups of actors 
Axis 5.2: Set up a partnership relation between public authorities and actors in the society, ensure a fair distribution of their respective roles	Priority Themes of the Assembly

Theme 11: Organize the dialogue between various sectors of society to build peace
Theme 14: Public-private, demarcation, different and complementary role, regulations and partnerships	

Chapter 6
Readjusting governance mechanisms to benefit weaker social groups or countries, so as to allow them to participate in world affairs, to enjoy true rights, to acquire the actual capacity to exercise those rights, and to become full-fledged citizens 

This chapter is based on the following conviction: democracy and solidarity imply that public regulations allow citizens, social groups, and peoples to participate in the world that is being built; from the local level to the global level, rules are first and foremost designed to offset the inequalities and the power struggles that concentrate power and knowledge in the hands of the strongest groups and individuals.

Strategic Axes of the Alliance

Axis 6.1: Readjust governance mechanisms to benefit weaker social groups or countries, so as to allow them to participate in world affairs, to enjoy true rights, to acquire the actual capacity to exercise those rights, and to become full-fledged citizens

	Priority Themes of the Assembly

Theme 10: Promote political, economic, cultural and social rights to enhance human dignity
Theme 16: Globalization, solidarity, access to resources: new North-South relations	

Chapter 7 
Creating new public regulations and opposing the domination of mercantile relations in order to meet the new challenges facing humankind, in particular those relating to the protection and management of the biosphere 

This chapter is based on the conviction that the development of science and technology as well as new and powerful forms of interdependence between human societies and the biosphere have created issues of a radically new nature: scientific and technological innovation, in particular our impact on life itself, need to be controlled, major decisions are now taken on a world scale, global ecological imbalances are appearing, etc. In the 1990s, as it became increasingly clear that our current development models represented dead ends, in the context of the collapse of the Communist bloc, the neo-liberal response, which consists in getting rid of old regulations and transforming the entire world into a commodity, presented itself as a universal panacea. However it has now also come to a dead end. Thus a whole new architecture must be built.

Strategic Axes of the Alliance

Axis 7.1: Set up public regulations allowing humankind to meet new ecological and social challenges and the new scales of such challenges
Axis 7.2: Define, protect and manage all common links, whether local or global, and make them accessible to all citizens
Axis 7.3: Reform the monetary systems
Axis 7.4: Establish new international financial regulations
Axis 7.5: Design and implement international exchange regulations based on economic subsidiarity.
	Priority Themes of the Assembly

Theme 12: Governance and environment: the institutional, political and legal resources to manage the relations between societies and their environment 
Theme 17: Global governance: global economy, enterprises, multinational companies and new regulations	

Appendix: 
COMPARISON BETWEEN THE PROPOSALS ON GOVERNANCE AND THE STRATEGIC AXES DESIGNED BY THE ALLIANCE AND THE WORLD ASSEMBLY

The Proposals Paper entitled "The Principles of Governance in the Twenty-first Century" states ten principles that can be found at all levels of governance. These ten principles are the following:

1.	Governance is based on a territorial approach and on the principle of active subsidiarity.
2.	Through governance, plural communities are established from the neighborhood level to the planetary level.
3.	Governance puts economy in its proper place and clearly defines what belongs to the sphere of the market and what does not.
4.	Governance is based on a universal ethics of responsibility.
5.	Governance defines the cycle through which public policies are developed, implemented and controlled.
6.	Governance organizes cooperation and synergies among active citizens.
7.	Governance is the art of designing systems that are consistent with the defined objectives.
8.	Governance masters the flow of exchanges within societies and between societies and the biosphere.
9.	Governance allows us to manage long-term processes and to anticipate future developments.
10.	Governance creates the conditions for exercising not only legal power, but also legitimate power; it ensures short-term stability and prepares long-term evolution.

The Proposals Papers dedicated to global governance include 38 proposals classified in 6 chapters:

1.	Founding a legitimate global governance
2.	Establishing a democratic world community
3.	Defining common rules to manage different categories of goods
4.	Controlling exchanges, controlling the pace of evolution
5.	Focusing on relations and organizing them
6.	Renewing methods

Under slightly different formulations, close similarities appear with World Assembly's strategic axes relating to governance.