Democratic globalization
Democratic globalization is a social movement towards an institutional system of global democracy.[1] One of its proponents is the British political thinker David Held. In the last decade, Held published a dozen books regarding the spread of democracy from territorially defined nation states to a system of global governance that encapsulates the entire world. For some, democratic mundialisation (from the French term mondialisation) is a variant of democratic globalisation stressing the need for the direct election of world leaders and members of global institutions by citizens worldwide; for others, it is just another name for democratic globalisation.[2]
These proponents state that democratic globalisation's purpose is to:
- Expand globalisationand make people closer and more united. This expansion should differ from economic globalization and "make people closer, more united and protected" because of a variety of opinions and proposals it is still unclear what this would mean in practice and how it could be realized.
- Have it reach all fields of activity and knowledge, including governmental and economic, since the economic one is crucial to develop the well-being of world citizens.
- Give United Nations Secretary-General by citizens and direct election of members of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly.
Democratic globalization supporters state that the choice of political orientations should be left to the world citizens via their participation in world democratic institutions. Some proponents in the
Background
Democratic globalization supports the extension of political democratization to economic and financial globalization. It is based upon an idea that free international transactions benefit the global society as a whole. They believe in financially open economies, where the government and central bank must be transparent in order to retain the confidence of the markets, since transparency spells doom for autocratic regimes. They promote democracy that makes leaders more accountable to the citizenry through the removal of restrictions on such transactions.
Social movements
The democratic globalization movement started to get public attention when New York Times reported its demonstration to contest a World Trade Organization (WTO) in Seattle, Washington, November 1999. This gathering was to criticize unfair trade and undemocratic globalization of the WTO, World Bank, World Economic Forum (WEF), the International Monetary Fund. Its primary tactics were public rallies, street theater and civil disobedience.
Democratic globalization, proponents claim, would be reached by creating democratic global institutions and changing
Global democracy
Thus, it supports the
Differences with anti-globalization
Democratic globalization supporters state that the choice of political orientations should be left to the
Some supporters of the "
Procedure
Democratic globalization, proponents claim, would be reached by creating democratic
They propose the creation of world services for citizens, like world
Proponents
The concept of democratic globalization has supporters from all fields. Many of the campaigns and initiatives for global democracy, such as the UNPA campaign, list quotes by and names of their supporters on their websites.[3]
Academics
Some of the most prolific proponents are the
Politicians
- In 2003, Bob Brown, the leader of the Australian Green Party, has tabled a move for global democracy in the Australian Senate: "I move: That the Senate supports global democracy based on the principle of 'one person, one vote, one value'; and supports the vision of a global parliament which empowers all the world's people equally to decide on matters of international significance."[4]
- Graham Watson (Former member of the European Parliament and former leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe) and Jo Leinen (Member of the European Parliament) are strong supporter of global democracy. They were among those presenting the "Brussels Declaration on Global Democracy" on February 23, 2010, at an event inside the European Parliament.[5]
- The appeals of the campaign for a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly has already been endorsed by more than 700 parliamentarians from more than 90 countries.[6]
List of prominent figures
- Garry Davis (peace activist who created the first World Passport)
- Albert Einstein ("The moral authority of the UN would be considerable enhanced if the delegates were elected directly by the people")
- George Monbiot ("A world parliament allows the poor to speak for themselves")[7]
- Desmond Tutu ("We must strive for a global democracy, in which not only the rich and the powerful have a say, but which treats everyone, everywhere with dignity and respect")[8]
- Peter Ustinov (President of the World Federalist Movement from 1991 to 2004)
- Abhay K ("The mass availability of internet-connected mobile phones paves the way for planetary consciousness and global democracy")[9]
See also
- Alter-globalization
- Cosmopolitanism
- Cosmopolitan democracy
- Democratic peace theory
- Federalism
- One Big Union (concept)
- Federal World Government
- Global Citizens Movement
- Global governance
- Global justice
- Global Justice Movement
- Internationalism (politics)
- Multilateralism
- Mundialization
- National sovereignty
- New world order (Baháʼí)
- Presidentialism
- Supranationalism
- Empire
- Transnational progressivism
- United Nations
- United Nations Parliamentary Assembly
- World political parties
- World citizen
- World Constitution and Parliament Association
References
- ISBN 978-1-4422-1810-9. Retrieved 2023-04-23.
- ISBN 978-0-19-875798-6.
- ^ UNPA Campaign "Quotes" and "list of featured supporters Archived 2010-09-03 at the Wayback Machine".
- ^ The Senate of Australia "GLOBAL DEMOCRACY AND GLOBAL PARLIAMENT".
- ^ KDUN "Brussels Declaration on Global Democracy Archived 2010-06-06 at the Wayback Machine".
- ^ UNPA Campaign "Overview support".
- ^ George Monbiot "No More Ventriloquists"
- ^ GiveYourVote "Supporter Statements Archived 2010-03-18 at the Wayback Machine"
- ^ Abhay K "Birth Of Global Democracy", The Times of India, Jan 21, 2011
- Eichengreen, Barry et al.. "Democracy and Globalization" Working Paper 12450 (2006). National Bureau of Economic Research. Web. 20 Sept. 2013
- James, Paul; van Seeters, Paul (2014). Globalization and Politics, Vol. 2: Global Social Movements and Global Civil Society. London: Sage Publications.
- Mwesige, Peter et al. ". From Seattle 1999 To New York 2004: A Longitudinal Analysis Of Journalistic Framing Of The Movement For Democratic Globalization" Social Movement Studies 6.2 (2007): 131-145. Academic Search Complete. Web. 25 Sept. 2013.
External links
- Tony Smith. "Philosopher Tony Smith critique of Held". public.iasate.edu. Iowa State University. Archived from the original on 2005-02-11.
- "Civilocracy — Equality and diversity in global democracy". civilocracy.org. Archived from the original on January 7, 2016.
- "Committee for a Democratic UN — Making the UN system more effective and democratic". uno-komitee.de. June 26, 2012. Archived from the original on 2005-10-20.
- Held, David. "Globalisation: fears and hopes". People and the planet.
- Stiglitz, Joseph (15 March 2014). "On the Wrong Side of Globalization". The New York Times.
- Committee for a Democratic UN - Making the UN system more effective and democratic
- Vote World Parliament - Democratic World Parliament through a global referendum
- GlobalDemo.org - List of Global Democracy Initiatives
- UNelections.org - Campaign for transparency, accountability and inclusiveness in elections and appointments to positions of great international importance
- Philosopher Tony Smith critique of David Held