Input requested for a manifesto on democracy and sustainable development

The Foundation for Democracy and Sustainable Development has launched a consultative process to develop the world’s first manifesto for democracy and sustainable development. The aim of the process that runs until the end of November 2012 is to provide a platform for action around the world to ensure that democracy is properly equipped to deliver sustainable development outcomes.

According to FDSD, "Democracy needs to be cherished if it is to thrive and adapt to pressures that climate change, resource scarcity and major demographic shifts will create. The manifesto will set an agenda for tackling problem areas such as the way that democracy is so often hitched to business-as-usual economic growth, or lack of respect for future generations. At the same time, there's an increasing risk that unsustainable development could erode democracy."

FDSD asks for suggestions on methods, institutions, policies or practices that can point the way to democratic decision-making that is tailored to sustainable development. "We want to hear from anyone – whether an individual or on behalf of an organisation - who cares about democracy and what it can do to deliver a healthy environment and fairness for all now and in the future. We're particularly keen to get ideas on practical actions that could equip democracy to deliver sustainable development. Should a UN Parliamentary Assembly be among them, for example?," said Halina Ward, FDSD's director.

To take part in the public consultation process, you can fill in and submit this on-line form that sets out three questions on principles, actions, and vision.

Please share this information within your networks if you possibly can. If you’d like any further information, or you would be interested in hosting a consultation workshop or consultation exhibition stand, please write to Halina Ward at manifesto@fdsd.org.

More information is available at FDSD's website.

On the transition from "Old" to "New Geopolitics"

Yesterday, Richard Falk, an international law and international relations scholar who taught at Princeton University for forty years (and who supports the Campaign for a UN Parliamentary Assembly), published a blog post on the transition from "Old Geopolitics" to "New Geopolitics."

"A number of developments on the global stage are suggesting that a New Geopolitics is indeed struggling to be born, although unable at this stage to challenge seriously the reign of the Old Geopolitics," Mr. Falk writes. A "striking example of New Geopolitics" according to Mr. Falk was the realignment that took place in the closing days of the 2009 Copenhagen UN Conference on Climate Change when "the United States sought to circumvent unwieldy and uncongenial procedures involving 193 states by selecting the participants in a hegemonic coalition that consisted of itself, China, India, Brazil, and South Africa."

This move was challenging "that part of the Old Geopolitics associated with the idea of the equality of states as the basis of legitimate multilateral lawmaking in the 21st century."

The civil society vision of the New Geopolitics, writes Mr. Falk, "inclines strongly in the transformative direction of Global Democracy, making all institutions of governance subject to the imperatives of transparency, accountability, stakeholder participation, rule of law, and attention to the human interest/global justice/climate change diplomacy. A first institutional step toward Global Democracy could involve the establishment of a Global Parliament that would directly represent people, not governments."

Richard Falk has been writing on the subject for a long time. Recently, a book was published with collected works of Richard Falk and Andrew Strauss on a global parliament.

Read the entire blog post here

Vilasrao Deshmukh, Indian Union Minister, passes away

India's Union Minister for Science and Technology and former Chief Minister of Maharashtra Vilasrao Deshmukh (67) passed away at a hospital in Chennai yesterday. As a cabinet member, Shri Deshmukh was one of the foremost supporters of the international Campaign for a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly in India. He was passionate about the cause and had recently organized the release of the Indian edition of the book "Towards A Global Parliament" edited by Richard Falk and Andrew Strauss in New Delhi.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and BJP chief Nitin Gadkari were among leaders from across the political spectrum who paid tributes.

Shri Deshmukh's death is a big loss to the efforts towards a more democratic global order. May his soul rest in peace.

Videos and podcast of recent presentations now available

Recently, there was a panel on the Campaign for a UN Parliamentary Assembly at the World Federalist Movement's World Congress in Winnipeg. In the previous post we published some pictures and the resolution adopted there on "Global democracy and United Nations Reform; Federalism at different levels."

In the meantime, videos of the panel presentations and of the discussion are also available. They can be watched here at Vimeo. Covered are an introduction by Fergus Watt, Executive Director of WFM-Canada, the presentations by Andreas Bummel, Secretary-General of the UNPA-Campaign, and former Canadian parliamentarians Bill Blaikie and Warren Allmand as well as the Q&A session afterwards.

Here you can also find an audio podcast of a presentation of Andreas Bummel at the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on July 2 on a "United Nations Parliamentary Assembly and Global Democracy." The presentation puts the question of a UN Parliamentary Assembly into a long-term perspective and covers subjects such as the development of world law and a new global social contract.

Finally, if you read French, here you can download an article recently published in the journal of the French National Assembly, Le Journal du Parlement, on "Renforcer la démocratie au moyen d 'une assemblée parlementaire mondiale."

Some images of and resolution adopted at the WFM Congress in Winnipeg

The World Federalist Movement-Institute for Global Policy and most of the organizations affiliated with it (here's the website) are closely involved in the Campaign for a UN Parliamentary Assembly. WFM has been supporting a UN Parliamentary Assembly for more than twenty years. The movement's annual meeting is always an opportunity for exchange and reflection. Recently, many UNPA campaigners met at the congress in Winnipeg, see our report here for more details.

Following up on our report, we've now uploaded the full text of the resolution adopted at the Congress on "Global democracy and United Nations Reform; Federalism at different levels." Here you can download the PDF file. It includes sections on global democratization, rule of law, UN reform, global economic, social and environmental governance, and regional federalism.

Here is also a selection of photos taken at the Congress:

[AFG_gallery id='1']

Artwork: A world parliament would transcend national boundaries

Often it is taken for granted that the world is politically devided among today's nearly 200 nation-states. This new artwork of the Campaign for a UN Parliamentary Assembly (see right, click on the image for a larger size) brings home the message that actually Earth is one indivisibable habitat and that the boundaries created by nation-states are artifical constructs.

Proponents of a world parliament argue that one of its key features would be to transcend national borders. It is expected that the members of a world parliament would group according to their political viewpoint rather than according to their national origin. This would put them into a good position to tackle problems from a broader, transnational perspective. For the first time, a political body would exists that would allow to pursue the common interest of humanity rather than just narrow national interests. The overall idea is captured with the slogan "One Common Home. One Common Future. One Common Parliament."

The artwork is available as a postcard. Supporters can contact the campaign's Secretariat to obtain copies.

Hello world, the Campaign for a UN Parliamentary Assembly now has a blog

Despite of the holiday season we're not idle. Finally we had the time to establish a long awaited official campaign blog. This is the first post!

If you visit the news section you will see that we are covering the campaign's major activities and other relevant news in the field of global democracy on a regular basis ever since the campaign was started (in English, German, French and Spanish, due to the tireless work of our pro bono translators from around the world who we would like to thank on this occasion). It is fair to say that we are the only website in the world that covers all that has to do with the question of a global parliament and most of our reports include original content that you will not find anywhere else.

Nonetheless, although we are proud of our coverage, for quite some time we've been realizing that we really need an additional way to highlight noteworthy developments and events that are otherwise not covered in the international news section and thus do not get appropriate acknowledgment. We are delighted that as of now this campaign blog exists for this purpose.

Tentative blog categories

The blog will allow us to keep you even better up to date. The campaign's secretariat, and campaign participants from around the world, for example national coordinators, can make use of it to publish reports and comments on their work, to highlight developments, events, and meetings or to feature new supporters. For this kind of posts we will establish a category "From the Campaign.

As the name says, the category "Resources" will include all posts that feature and present resources that are valueable for the campaign. Background information, general analysis, hints to books and other publications will be found in the category "Knowledge."

We intend to publish opinions and comments from campaign supporters on topical issues close to our cause from time to time. For this we'll have the category "Opinion & Comments." Guest submissions will be most welcome. We'll set up some formal guidelines for unsolicited submissions once the blog has become more established.

Generally we hope that the blog will become a platform to share information on all kind of things close to our cause. Everything that does not fit into the four categories already mentioned will be collected under "Miscellanea."

Finally, it will be possible for the blog's readers to comment on and to discuss all posts. For convenience we're making use of Facebook's comment plugin for this.

We'll not double post any content from the news section on the blog so don't forget to check there, too, if you are looking for news!

Obviously, it's all still very fresh. Suggestions are welcome.

Une initiative veut un referendum transnational, dit que la “démocratie est en danger”

Des activistes, des experts, des chercheurs, des journalistes et des hommes politiques de 11 pays européens se sont réunis à Burgas, en Bulgarie, la semaine dernière (3° de juillet) pour discuter du développement de la participation citoyenne et de la démocratie directe en Europe et dans le monde. Dans une déclaration adoptée lors du meeting ils soulignent que « la démocratie est la plus importante question

Gerald Häfner, député européen, Président de Démocratie international

Image : DI

de notre époque vu que les questions politiques comme le changement climatique, la responsabilité pour les ressources et l’environnement, l’état des droits civils et les politiques sur les plans économiques, financiers et sociaux dépendent de la qualité de la démocratie et de la question de savoir qui prend à la fin les décisions. »

« Dans le même temps, la Déclaration soutient que la démocratie « est en danger dans un monde où de plus en plus de décisions sont prises à un niveau international ou transnational alors que la participation démocratique et le contrôle restent confinés dans les Etats-nations. Pour toutes ces raisons nous nécessitons plus de démocratie, de participation des citoyens et de démocratie directe ».

La réunion était organisée par Démocratie international, une coalition globale qui défend l’établissement et le renforcement de la démocratie directe en Europe et dans le monde. Selon la Déclaration adoptée à Burga, « la démocratie internationale demande le droit d’initiative et de referendum dans tous les pays au niveau local, régional, national et transnational ». Considérant la situation en Europe, la réunion a appelé à une Convention européenne sur l’avenir de l’Union européenne et à un referendum européen sur ses conclusions.

Comme l’initiative le rapporte sur son website, des gens du monde entier ont travaillé en commun depuis 2002 pour promouvoir l’idée de plus de démocratie directe et de participation des citoyens. Democracy International ayant alors été créé formellement en 2011 en tant que réseau d’individus et d’Organisations non gouvernementales.

«Notre but basique est l’établissement de plus de démocratie directe comme complément à la démocratie représentative dans le monde entier et à tous les niveaux de gouvernement, local, régional, national et transnational » a dit Gerharld Häfner, président de Democracy International et eurodéputé Vert élu en Allemagne. .

Häfner sur le but de l’initiative

 

Häfner a également été l’un des signataires d’une lettre ouverte l’année dernière qui a appelé le gouvernement allemand à prendre l’initiative pour la création d’une Assemblée parlementaire des Nations unies.

Site du web du Democracy International

Initiative calls for transnational referenda, warns that "democracy is in danger"

Activists, experts, researchers, journalists and politicians from eleven European countries met in Burgas, Bulgaria, last week to discuss the development of citizen participation and direct democracy in Europe and the world. In a joint declaration adopted at the meeting, they stressed that "Democracy is the most important issue of our

Gerald Häfner, MEP, President of Democracy International

Image: DI

time as political questions like climate change, the responsibility for resources and the environment, the state of civil rights and policies on economic, financial and social issues depend on the quality of democracy and the question who takes the decisions in the end."

At the same time, the declaration goes on, democracy is "in danger in a world, in which more and more political decisions are taken on an international or transnational level while democratic participation and control still lies within the nation states. For all these reasons we need more democracy, citizen participation and direct democracy."

The meeting was organized by Democracy International, a global coalition that advocates the establishment and strengthening of direct democracy in Europe and the world. According to the statement adopted in Burgas, "Democracy International calls for the right to initiative and referenda in all countries and on the local, regional, national or transnational level." Considering the situation in Europe, the initiative called for a European Convention on the future of the EU and a European-wide referendum on its outcome.

As the initiative reports on its website, people from all over the world have been working together since 2002 to promote the idea of more direct democracy and citizens participation. Democracy International was then formally established in 2011 as a network of individuals and non-governmental organizations.

"Our basic goal is the establishment of direct democracy as a complement to representative democracy throughout the world and at all levels of government: local, regional, national and transnational", says Gerhald Häfner, president of Democracy International and Green Member of the European Parliament from Germany.

Häfner on the mission of the initiative

 

Häfner was also one of the signatories of an open letter last year that called on the German government to take the initiative for the establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly.

Website of Democracy International

Une étude présente des modèles pour une assemblée parlementaire mondiale

Présentation au Congrès du WFM-IGP à Winnipeg

Les modèles et principes pour l’établissement et l’évolution d’un parlement mondial sont l’objet d’une nouvelle étude présentée mardi à une audience de spécialistes internationaux participant au congrès mondial du WFM-IGP, un réseau international dédié au renforcement du droit international, des droits de l’homme, du fédéralisme, et de la démocratie. Le livre, en anglais, intitulé Créer une assemblée parlementaire : un voyage évolutionniste

Joseph Schwartzberg lors de la présentation de son livre. En arrière plan, Andreas Bummel

Image: CEUNPA

est l’œuvre de Joseph Schwartzberg, expert en la matière, qui a enseigné la géographie à l’université du Minnesota, qui lui décerna en 2009 le titre honorifique de «Professeur émérite de distinction internationale».

Publié par le Comité pour des Nations Unies démocratiques, basé à Berlin, le livre est préfacé par Daniele Archibugi, spécialiste de la démocratie cosmopolite et directeur du Conseil national de recherche italien, qui explore comment le déficit démocratique des Nations unies peut être progressivement réduit par le développement d’un corps parlementaire mondial. Après avoir établi un socle conceptuel, trois étapes d’évolution et quatre modèles de répartition des sièges sont définis pour ce qui deviendrait une assemblée mondiale à élection directe. Lors de la présentation de l’auteur et de l’étude, Andreas Bummel, président du comité, a souligné que cette analyse était la première du genre et représentait une contribution majeure au débat en cours sur la création d’une assemblée parlementaire des Nations unies. Dans un commentaire imprimé au dos du livre, l’euro-parlementaire Jo Leinen mentionne d’ailleurs que l’étude «rend ce projet très tangible et démontre qu’il n’y a pas, en principe, d’obstacle technique ne pouvant être surmonté. C’est la volonté politique qui est nécessaire.»

Durant la présentation, M. Schwartzberg a insisté sur le fait qu’il y ait «un nombre infini de modèles possibles» et que selon lui, «la répartition des sièges doit refléter les réalités du pouvoir dans le monde réel, c’est à dire à l’extérieur des Nations unies». Avant d’ajouter, «conserver la prétention que toutes les nations sont égales est dysfonctionnel». Selon sa proposition, la participation à une assemblée parlementaire mondiale serait optionnelle. «Aucun pays ne serait contraint à rejoindre l’UNPA, mais ceux qui le feraient devrait suivre les règles», «au fil du temps, il y aurait une pression croissante pour que tous les pays rejoignent l’assemblée», a poursuivi M. Schwartzberg.

La publication du livre a été soutenue par la Earthrise Society basée à Munich

Télécharger ou acheter une copie du livre ici

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20 juillet 2012: Le Congrès des fédéralistes renforce le soutien à la démocratisation mondiale