Date:
|
November 2000 - April 2002
|
| Lead Organization: |
Globalization and Governance Division Centre for
Global Studies, University of Victoria |
| Project Location: |
Victoria, Canada; Lima, Peru; Mumbai, India; Johannesburg,
South Africa; Singapore; Prague, Czech Republic; Beirut, Lebanon. |
| Project Funders: |
Ford Foundation; CIDA; IDRC; Rockefeller Foundation;
Dept. of Finance, Canada |
| Personnel Involved: |
CFGS Director Gordon Smith, Associate Director Barry
Carin, Senior Associate Alex Allen; Jim Garrison, Executive Director,
State of the World Forum; Joe Stiglitz, Stanford University; "T7" Research
Consortium: Francisco Sagasti, Executive Director, FORO Nacional/Internacional,
Lima, Peru; Simon Tay, MP, Director, Institute for International
Affairs, Singapore; Salim Nasr, Executive Director, Lebanese Center
for Policy Studies, Beirut; John Stremlau, Department of International
Affairs, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg; Sudhakara Reddy,
Dean and Professor, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research,
Mumbai; Jan Krouzek, Senior Project Coordinator, Institute for International
Relations, Prague. |
| Description: |
The purpose of Transcending Post-Seattle Angst is
to develop and disseminate practical recommendations for the reform
of the global governance institutions. The project has involved the
publication of Rethinking Governance, a 266-page handbook of best
practice ideas for increasing accountability, participation and transparency
in global organizations, and a "new institutions initiative" aimed
at exploring potential applications of the best practices research
through the establishment of state-of-the-art global microfinance
and technology transfer facilities. The project also sponsored a
conference of eminent global governance experts to envision a global
architecture for the year 2020. Results of the research were channeled
through the high level policy arenas of the G20 and G8 ministerial
meetings, and will form the basis for consultations by the Commission
on Globalization, a major world conference scheduled for early 2004.
The impetus for Transcending Post-Seattle Angst relates to Canada's current role
as host of the G20 and G8 ministerial meetings. In the aftermath of the 1999
WTO riots in Seattle, Canadian finance minister and G20 Chair Paul Martin issued
an appeal for innovative policy initiatives to bring to these tables that would
respond in substantive ways to the complex pressures of globalization. Widely
held concerns over the problems of global environmental deterioration, the increasing
economic disparity between rich and poor, the loss of cultural diversity, and
the erosion of democratic institutions, to name only a few, have underscored
an urgent need for better and more inclusive forms of governance to manage our
growing global interdependence. In this project, the Centre for Global Studies
has sought to identify practical solutions in support of this new imperative.
Many of the ideas highlighted in the research are drawn from actual programs
currently in use within the major global institutions, while others represent
the creative visions of a talented network of global governance experts and practitioners.
Together, the proposals represent a critical guidepost for international decision
makers engaged in the work of realizing a more just and equitable global order. |
The purpose of this component of the project
was to highlight some of the ways by which international
organizations are already responding to the call for more
responsive and accountable governance at the international
level. The result of this work is a 266-page publication
entitled Rethinking Governance Handbook: An Inventory of
Ideas to Enhance Accountability, Participation and Transparency.
The inventory contains a review of 72 best practice initiatives
drawn from 25 organizations, and covering an extensive range
of examples for enhancing governance, including the use of
investigative bodies, dispute resolution mechanisms, on-line
dialogues, participatory project management, civil society
liaison mechanisms, innovative voting models, and many more.
Rethinking Governance provides a relevant and timely resource
for officials and policy-makers at every organizational level
who are interested in strategies for enhancing institutional
effectiveness. See the Handbook.
|
In this component
of the project, researchers from policy think-tanks in seven
participating countries assumed
the task of developing proposals
for one or more of the ten new international units. The purpose
of this strategy was three-fold: 1) to respond to perceived gaps
in the international governance
regime; 2) to establish a framework(s) for piloting new and innovative
governance arrangements that may not be easily accommodated within
the constraints of existing institutions; and 3) to benefit from
the synergy of perspectives from different continents, different
cultures and different stages of development that is represented
by the T-7 collective. The complete menu of new initiatives is
included in the table below.
During February through March 2001, position
papers were prepared on all ten of the initiatives, and in April,
these were circulated to several potential funders in the form
of an omnibus proposal entitled "Managing Interdependence".
To date, feasibility studies for two of the ten - the Microcredit
Promotion Agency and the Digital Initiative for Development Agency
- have received financial support from the Canadian International
Development Agency. This support, combined with funds allocated
from the Ford Foundation grant, enabled the organization of two
conferences in August and September 2001, during which the proposals
were discussed by international experts from the field.
|
|
University
of Witwatersrand, S. A. |
|
Indira
Ghandi Institute of Development Research, India |
|
Centre for
Global Studies, Canada |
Path
to a World Environment Organization
|
Singapore
Institute of International Affairs |
Science
and Technology Transfer for SME's
|
Institute
of International Relations, Czech Republic |
|
Lebanese
Centre for Policy Studies, |
Global
Knowledge and Development Facility
|
Foro
Nacional/ Internacional, Peru |
|
Centre
for Global Studies, Victoria, |
Participatory/Cooperatives
Promotion Agency
|
Indira
Gandhi Institute of Development Research, India |
|
Centre for Global Studies, Canada |
The rationale for this initiative is that microfinance programs
in general have not been well served by the existing networks
of multilateral and donor institutions that fund them, and that
bold initiatives are needed if the considerable potential of
this sector for addressing world poverty is to be fully exploited.
On the basis of this premise, and with the objective of identifying
pragmatic strategies for the implementation of alternative global
governance arrangements, CFGS set about to test the feasibility
of these ideas with a panel of international microfinance experts.
A conference was organized for late August 2001 in Victoria,
with 26 participants in attendance, representing a diverse cross-section
of microfinance programs and organizations. Prior to the meeting,
an Options Paper was prepared and circulated to the group. The
Rethinking Governance inventory was also provided as a core point
of reference for the discussion. In general, the idea of a new
global microfinance initiative received strong support from the
group, and has since been incorporated into the overall package
of recommendations from the Transcending Post-Seattle Angst project.
To find out more, view these documents:
|
The purpose and methodology of
this component of the work followed closely the model used for
the microfinance research. In this case, the Lebanese Centre
for Policy Studies took the lead in coordinating the consultation
process, which took place in Beirut in September 2001. Like the
microfinance project, the organizers found considerable interest
and support within this sector of the development community for
the idea of new institutional initiatives to advance the promotion
of ICT transfer.
|
August 28-31, 2001, the Centre for Global Studies
hosted a third consultation, this one aimed at compiling the
visions of high caliber researchers from around the world on
what would comprise the most practicable and desirable architecture
of international institutions in the year 2020. The background
to the exercise is set out in the 2020 Concept Paper below. In
preparation for this exercise, CFGS commissioned the drafting
of twelve vision papers by researchers representing a broad cross-section
of regional and political perspectives. The authors and titles
of the twelve papers appear below.
|
1. Vision
2020: A Sustainable Livelihoods Perspective, Tariq
Banuri, Tellus Institute and Stockholm Environment Institut,
Sweden
2. 2020
Global Architecture Seminar - Seven Questions
to be Considered as Debate-Opening Remarks, Bertrand
de La Chapelle, Institut Francais des Relations
Internationales, France
3. A
Scenario for Running the World, Ann Florini,
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington
D.C., USA
4. A
Manageable World: Taking Hold of the
International Public Sector, Shepard
Forman, Center on International Cooperation,
New York University, USA
5. International
Financial System Reform: Lessons From
the 1997-8 East Asian Crises, Jomo
K. S., University of Malaya, Malaysia
6. Multilevel
Economic Governance Through Subsidiarity:
Remodelling the Global Financial Architecture, W.
Andy Knight, University of Alberta,
Canada
7. Vision
2020: Towards Better Global Governance, Adil
Najam, Department of International
Relations, Boston University, USA
8. Global
Architecture: Vision 2020, Wailur
Rahman, Bangladesh Institute of Law
and International Affairs, Dhaka, Bangladesh
9. A
Global Architecture for 2020, Shridath
Ramphal, UN Commission on Globalization,
UK
10. Governing
the World Economy: The Challenges of
Globalization, Ngaire Woods, University
College, Oxfor, UK
11. Globalization
and Global Governance in 2020 - Our
Vision on International Organizations
in 2020, Xu Mingqi and Wu Yikang,
The Institute of World Economy, Shanghai
Academy of Social Sciences, People's
Republic of China
12. Re-designing
the International Financial Architecture:
Voting and Power Sharing in the IMF,
Mark W. Zacher, Institute of International
Relations, University of British Columbi,
Canada
During the conference, the Visionaries
were joined by an additional group of 24 discussants for
collective examination and debate on ideas outlined in
the papers. Canada's finance minister, the Honourable Paul
Martin, opened the event with a video-taped address to
the participants, in which he helped to focus the proceedings
by posing three key questions:
· What should we govern internationally?
· How should we govern at the international level?
· What is the best path to poverty reduction and development?
Find out more about the 2020
Global Architecture Conference
|
Last Update:
August 27, 2003
|
