*{Global governance in the 21st century [http://www.weforum.org/site/knowledgenavigator.nsf/Content/Global%20governance%20in%20the%2021st%20century?open&topic_id=300600000&theme_id=300]

            01.02.2000

            Annual Meeting 2000}

            The issues of globalization are not new, as moderator Joseph S. Nye Jr, Dean of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, USA, reminded participants that Marx wrote about problems that would be familiar today, and the failure of 19th century globalization in 1914 has been blamed by some scholars for the maladies of the past century - Fascism and Communism. The question is whether we can do better in the 21st century. Nye described institutions such as NATA, GATT, WTO and the IMF as "islands of governance" run by small clubs, and the challenge is how best to adapt these institutions to cope with new challenges without destroying them, or "how do you get everyone into the action, and still get action?". 

            David Bryer, Executive Director of Oxfam GB, UK, outlined the major challenges ahead - above all halving world poverty by the year 2015, which he noted that both British Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President Bill Clinton had subscribed to. To meet this enormous challenge, a wide alliance of organizations would need to be involved. He welcomed recent moves by the World Bank to involve NGOs in policy-making. He believed that targets on specific issues such as poverty, education and the environment had to be set and a means to check progress agreed internationally. David de Pury, Chairman of the Board and Partner of De Pury Pictet Turrettini & Co., Switzerland, issued a note of caution about the danger of the World Trade Organization becoming unwieldy. The WTO worked on a consensus principle. Developing countries were well represented there and quite vocal in the organization. His preferred solution is to strengthen links between the WTO and national parliaments in the form of consultative committees. Sovereignty is strongest at national rather than international level, he said. Ecological issues should be discussed at other forums. This way the WTO would be able to deal quickly with issues such as e-commerce, which need rapid decisions.

            Wolfgang H. Reinicke, Senior Partner of the Corporate Strategy Group at the World Bank, agreed that fast decisions are needed on increasingly complex trade problems. His proposed solution was the formation of Global Public Policy Networks (GPPNs) to research best practice and set standards on specific issues. These networks will be based on organizations such as the World Commission on Dams, and the Roll Back Malaria initiative, which bring business, government and NGOs together to fill the democratic vacuum at the international governance level and help solve conflicts. The recently established Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization was an example of different sectors coming together to tackle a global problem. At present, he said, there is no global governance, but the GPPNs could provide the institutional framework to deal with the negative effects of the market economy and prevent a massive protectionist backlash from disadvantaged countries and communities.

            Gordon S. Smith, Chairman of the International Development Research Centre and Professor of Global Studies and Conflict Prevention at the Universities of British Colombia and Victoria, Canada, concurred that it was important to get beyond the rhetoric of the "governance gap" and tackle issues which affect 6 billion people today and 8 billion on the planet in 25 years' time. He highlighted the role of the United States and its "unwillingness to enter global regimes perceived to limit US authority", in areas such as military and trade cooperation, and in signing international conventions such as the Rights of the Child. This was not an issue "that could be swept under the rug", he said. Smith mentioned the international campaign to abolish landmines as an example of how governments can combine with NGOs and other interest groups to achieve significant policy changes. Heizo Takenaka, President of the Tokyo Foundation, Japan, emphasized the need for different types of countries to be treated in appropriate ways in international trade issues. 

            Summing up, Nye said that democratic alliances could work at all levels, but involvement of NGOs in the WTO is not itself a guarantee of democracy - after all, NGOs are predominantly northern, middle class and white. He sees the trisectoral GPPN alliances as a way forward, and also the proliferation of business, governments and NGO partnerships at the most local level as with the Grameen Bank initiative in Bangladesh.                 

                  *{ Contributors:       Bryer David
                  Nye Joseph S.
                  Pury David
                  Reinicke Wolfgang H.
                  Smith Gordon S.
                  Takenaka Heizo}