Attention: Global Contract!

Update

As a result of globalisation there are a number of problems in the world that can no longer be solved by means of political actions taken at the national level. Examples include world trade, climate change, and the extreme social divide that exists between the north and the south. At present these global issues are not entirely unmonitored. There are a number of institutions, control systems and contracts operating from a range of different fields that are progressively evolving into a system of Global Governance.

However, the current organisation of Global Governance lacks a traditional democratic structure. While there are politicians making decisions pertaining to the regulation and constraint of globalisation – overall this topic often remains absent from central public discussions. Despite an increased awareness about the issues of globalisation, the public remains generally uninformed and uninvolved with respect to the specific decision-making processes that shape globalisation.

The Project

The primary aim of this project is to increase the public visibility of decision making processes that concern globalisation and therefore stimulate public debate about these processes. Following this, it may also be possible for further solutions to be proposed and therefore greater momentum encouraged. This project is adaptable in several ways: The number of the "advertised" decision making processes can vary, as well as the depth of the actual substantive debate on this issue. Likewise, the project could be aimed at a German target audience or a variety of different international target groups.

1. Decision-Making Processes:
-A new design and structure for the shape of globalisation will be sourced from the expanse of decision making processes, however only those processes that are most closely related to the stakeholders in terms of content and in practise, will be chosen. For 2011, the UNFCCC climate conference in Durban, South Africa stands as a perfect example.
Background information and Analysis.
-An overview of global decision-making processes can be established and made accessable. The overview would serve as a sampling framework for improving the leading processes following the project.

2. Background information and Analysis:
- In advance, background information and analyses for specific up-coming decision making processes should be compiled and made available to the public. The information offered would be designed to target a specific group. In order to utilize existing information channels, children could also be chosen as a specific target group.
- In order to offer information that goes beyond our own knowledge of the content, renowned external experts can be found to offer their assessment of global contract processes.
-As another element of the project, public questions could be put forward that will clarify the crucial characteristic that are required for positive solutions.

3. My recommendations
-In order to add further depth to the content, decision-making processes should be better incorporated into the public discourse in the future. Through substantive debate about current negotiation processes prospective "Global Contract" methods could be piloted. This could occur in the form of one’s own work or a supervised academic piece. When required, external experts could also be found to analyse the proposed solution for global contract schemes.

The project uses: Information and communication technologies (e.g. press,
Website, Blog, Calendar) to reach those who are already interested in this theme and also to reach the greater general public.

What there is already
- 1000 questions (i.e. discussions on bioethics)
- Blog "building sites of globalization" (World Economy & Development, http://www.baustellender-globalisierung.blogspot.com/) and selected world events (e.g. G8, IMF, World Bank, Climate, WTO)
- "Policy papers" civil society initiatives in the Anglo-American world (e.g. Oxfam, CAFOD, UK, USA, India, Bangladesh)