GLOBALIZATION, SOCIAL JUSTICE AND SUSTAINABILITY
"The twin forces of international economic liberalisation and technological change mean that we are living in an increasingly integrated society. Yet, as highlighted by UNCTAD's 1997 Trade and Development Report "Globalization, Distribution and Growth", the last 20 years have seen growing inequality between the developed and developing countries. This widening gap between rich and poor has been repeated within these societies as well. Governments must therefore find new ways to ensure that the most needy are not marginalised and excluded from sharing in the fruits of globalisation.
Global challenges such as eliminating poverty and preserving a sustainable environment cannot be addressed by national governments alone. These require international co-operation not just between states but also between the people of different states, forming a global moral community."
- Clare Short, UK Cabinet Minister for International Development
We would like to invite you to participate in a new and exciting project, a NEXUS theme group, focused on Global Social Justice.
This document includes information about:
- aims, participants and methods
NEXUS is a network for all those interested in contributing to debate on the priorities and policies of the current government. It has been set up to be formally independent of any particular political party (though clearly, there are good lines of communication to both Labour and the Liberal Democrats), not least to create a space within which ideas and empirical issues can be debated at one remove from the immediate electoral and media pressures that face politicians. Nexus is an umbrella structure within which individuals from a range of organizations can communicate and co-ordinate, and through which the public profile and influence of their ideas and work can be increased.
The Global Social Justice group has developed out of the Globalization: Britain in the World theme group.
Participants in this theme group met several times in the latter half of 1996 and early in 1997 to discuss globalization, and the limits, if any, it places on UK Government policy.
The group produced, collectively and individually, discussion papers about a variety of topics including Macro-economic policy; Social policy and income distribution; Competitiveness; and, Globalization, Multilateralism and the Developing Countries. Currently these are stored in the Nexus library.
Although the group was reasonably successful, there was a lack of focus, with some participants more interested in issues of British competitiveness, and others taking the view that a focus on Britain neglected the wider picture of global political economy and associated issues of justice and sustainability.
The new Global Social Justice group picks up the themes of globalization, social justice and sustainability.
In the light of Labour's election victory and the change in stance of the Foreign Office/Department for International Development, such issues have moved up the political agenda, making consideration of Global Social Justice important, rather than naively utopian.
Although we do not want to constrain the activities of the emerging group, the sorts of work we want to build on include:
Cox, R. (ed.) (1997) The new realism: Perspectives on multilateralism and world order. Macmillan Press/United Nations University Press.
Falk, R. (1995) On humane governance: Towards a new global politics. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Gill, S. (ed.) (1997) Globalization, democratization and multilateralism. London: Macmillan Press/United Nations University Press.
Held, D. (1995) Democracy and the global order: From the modern state to cosmopolitan governance. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Hirst, P. and Thompson, G. (1996) Globalization in question. Cambridge: Polity Press. (Especially the later chapters re "Global governance").
UN Commission on Global Governance (1995) Our global neighbourhood. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Although the newness of globalization is contested by some commentators, the increasing scope and depth of global interdependence is widely accepted as an important trend in the global political economy.
Commentators from a variety of positions, in government, business, academia, the environmental movement etc. increasingly accept that an increasingly globalized economy and environment necessitates the development of more effective global governance. Governance which stops at the borders of nation-states is increasingly inadequate.
So, for example, we see the development of the WTO, the Basle Concordat on Banking Supervision and Regulation, the OECD's proposed Multilateral Agreement on Investment.
However, many of these developments are being driven by a New-Right business and "free-markets" agenda, whilst the left is in danger of missing an opportunity to develop a new internationalism. Simply put, global governance is happening; so, we ought to argue that issues of social justice and sustainability are included in the emerging global agenda.
GLOBAL SOCIAL JUSTICE: AIMS, PARTICIPANTS, METHODS
The NEXUS: Global Social Justice group intends to push the issues of social justice and sustainability higher up the political agenda.
* We will facilitate and stimulate public debate about globalization, social justice and
sustainability.
* We will examine the constraints and possibilities which globalization leads to in terms
of working towards global social justice and environmental sustainability.
* We will to counter the view that globalization leaves states, firms and people no
alternative but to surrender to a "free-market" economic logic.
* We will discuss and develop alternatives to neo-liberal globalization.
The group's work will be wide-ranging and will develop according to the interests and expertise of the participants, but the following questions and issues give an indication of the sorts of themes that we will consider:
* in what ways are efforts to work towards a fairer, more sustainable world hindered or
helped by processes of globalization?
* what does fairness and sustainability mean in a global context?
* how can multilateral institutions best foster fairness and sustainability?
* UN reform proposals
* Debt relief and the IMF
* Structural adjustment programmes
* The trade/environment debate and the WTO
* Environmental and labour clauses and the WTO framework
* NGO relations with the multilateral institutions
* the OECD's proposed Multilateral Agreement on Investment
We would encourage anyone with an interest in these issues to participate in the work of the group.
We would particularly like to extend participation beyond academia, beyond Government, beyond the UK, and beyond the developed world.
That said, participants may include people from:
* Social and Political science: International Political Economy, International Relations,
Geography, Sociology, Politics, Law, Economics, Development Studies, Environmental Studies
* Practitioners: Government, Environment and Development NGOs, Multilateral Institutions
* Other interested parties: Policy-makers, church groups, trade unions, consumer groups
The Internet will be our main meeting point. On the internet our activities will include:
* a searchable discussion list archive
* Hotlinks
Off-line, we hope to organize:
* publications, academic and mainstream
* seminars
* conferences
The first thing you need to do to get involved is to subscribe to the discussion list.
This can be done by sending an e-mail with
subscribe global
to
majordomo@netnexus.org
Details of the list, and of how discussion lists work, will then be sent to you.
Alternatively the Website allows you to subscribe at the touch of a button.
The Website also includes further information about NEXUS and the Global Social Justice theme group and will, shortly, include links to a variety of other related sites.
Please post this to any colleagues, friends and discussion lists who may be interested.
Alan C. Hudson
Dept. of Geography
University of Cambridge