Democratic globalization

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

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
    globalisation
    and 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

anti-globalization movement do not necessarily disagree with this position. For example, George Monbiot, normally associated with the anti-globalization movement (who prefers the term global justice movement), has proposed in his work Age of Consent similar democratic reforms of most major global institutions, suggesting direct democratic elections of such bodies and a form of world government
.

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

intergovernmental
institutions controlled by the nation-states), into global ones controlled by world citizens. The movement suggests to do it gradually by building a limited number of democratic global institutions in charge of a few crucial fields of common interest. Its long-term goal is that these institutions federate later into a full-fledged democratic world government.

Global democracy

Thus, it supports the

International Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly
, that would allow for participation of member nations' legislators and, eventually, direct election of United Nations (UN) parliament members by citizens worldwide.

Differences with anti-globalization

Democratic globalization supporters state that the choice of political orientations should be left to the

presidentialism
).

Some supporters of the "

federal world government
".

Procedure

Democratic globalization, proponents claim, would be reached by creating democratic

democratic world government
.

They propose the creation of world services for citizens, like world

natural hazards
) services.

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

Richard Falk has developed the idea from an international law perspective, Ulrich Beck from a sociological approach and Jürgen Habermas
has elaborate the normative principles.

Politicians

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


References

  • 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