In the light of September 11 2001, the worldwide emphasis on combating global terrorism has increased. Globalization is affecting citizens across the globe who are both sharing its benefits through more open borders and increased communication technology, but who also are feeling the frustration of not being able to influence the decision-making process on issues related to their daily lives. These frustrations are expressed through peaceful and violent civic resistance such as demonstrations of the kind witnessed at the anti-WTO demonstrations in Seattle on one end and terrorist acts at the extreme more violent end.

In order to battle this dissatisfaction, Falk and Strauss propose the creation of a Global Parliament Assembly (GPA) which would provide a democratic opportunity for people to have their say on global policy ”..in conformity with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (p.204).”

Through the one-person, one-vote set up for all citizens of the world, the GPA would provide an arena where different interest groups, through their elected representatives, would follow the debates through media, and provide the opportunity for critics and respondents to interact “…making controversies about problems and solutions more likely to be productive, a mutual appreciation and acceptance of differences in values, priorities and situations (p.207).” This would in turn promote peaceful resolutions with decisions reached through compromise and accommodation.

In their argument, the authors contrast ‘globalization-from-below’ through global civil society to ‘globalization-from-above’ by business and financial elites. Acknowledging recentness against the proposal of a GPA, mainly from the global business and financial elite who would be unwilling to broaden the decision-making process on financial issues with a risk of having to place more emphasis on equal distribution and better marketing, the authors suggest that a strong global civil society will play a major role in promoting such a forum of participation.

Laying out the past years developments of global activities, both from the global business and financial elite on economic policy through for instance the World Economic Forum, and from global civil society starting with the UN Conference on the Environment and Development conducted in Rio de Janeiro conference in 1992 to the UN Millennium Forum in 2000, the authors demonstrate that participation by non-state actors has increased significantly.

Looking at the European Union it has been shown that “…those with a pronounced interest in global governance – civil society, the corporate elite, and many governments – have an individual as well as collective stake in erecting some type of overarching democratic structure (p.219).”

There is a need to coordinate these non-state actors so that they will become democratic, equal, just, representative and accountable. “As global civil society becomes more influential, and as more ideologically diverse…groups…” claim “access to global arenas of decision, this problem of representation can only become more complex and even more hotly contested (p.217).”

The suggested Civil Society Forum that was a result of the UN Millennium Forum in 2000 where 1,400 individuals from civil society organizations attended, may become an “...important barometer of world public opinion... (p.213)” that then could be the first step towards the establishment of the GPA.

The establishment of the GPA would go through the so called “New Diplomacy”, expanding further than the diplomacy between states as it includes the civil society. In the most recent past, this is what has led to the Global Warming Treaty, the Landmine Convention and the International Criminal Court.

Falk and Strauss suggest that the establishment of the GPA go through a formal treaty process involving civil society, nation-states, and business elites. The treaty would then be ratified and signed by an increasing number of states putting pressure on states who had not yet become members. “It would seem increasingly perverse to proclaim democratic values at home but resist democratic practices and possibilities abroad (p.229).”

To counter security deficits and global terrorism, the GPA would encourage even such fundamentalists as Osama bin Ladin, despite the anti-democratic stand expressed by him and his followers. Through experiences with Christian right not in favor of secular political institutions in the US, it has been shown that “…even those with radical political agendas will seldom decline the opportunity to participate (p.208).” Support from extremist anti-democratic organizations would also diminish when disadvantaged people would see that their concerns were addressed through other means than violence.

“The hope is that over time the organization of international relations would come more closely to resemble decision-making within the most democratic societies of the world (p.222).”

Notes :

Falk and Strauss present the above argument in a briefer format in the article “Toward Global Parliament” in Foreign Affairs edition Jan/Feb 2001; 8, 1 claiming that one “crucial aspect of the rising dissatisfaction with globalization is the lack of citizen participation in the global institutions that shape people’s daily lives.”