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"This new 144-page book, just published by Manchester University Press, argues that the current push worldwide for Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) is not about building infrastructure -- roads, bridges, hospitals, ports and railways -- for the benefit of society but about constructing new subsidies to benefit the already wealthy. It is less about financing development than developing finance.
"Two key insights are, first, that non-state sovereign entrepreneurs (NSEs) already have formed non-territorial sovereign organizations (NSOs) - sometimes in embryonic or hybrid form that share authority with state sovereigns - and, second, that NSOs are neither just non-governmental organizations (NGOs) nor sovereign states. Instead, like states, NSOs are invested with authority and exercise supremacy, but, like NGOs, are without defined territory. A striking commercial example of an NSO providing effective global governance is given by ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. A private non-profit public-benefit corporation, ICANN's mission is “to coordinate, at the overall level, the global Internet's systems of unique identifiers and in particular to ensure the stable and secure operation of the Internet's unique identifier systems" (www.icann.org/en/general/bylaws.htm#I). ICANN's scope of activity is global, acting as the ultimate rule making body in designing and assigning Internet domain names, a task that is vital to Internet stability. Governments have no direct decision making powers in ICANN.
The rise of supranational governance spells challenge and opportunity on a grand scale. In this post we examine what such a future may look like.
In the 21st century, our security and well being depends on the well being of everyone else on this planet as well as on the health of the planet itself.
The Outlook on the Global Agenda 2015 features an analysis of the Top 10 trends which will preoccupy our experts for the next 12-18 months as well as the key challenges facing the world’s regions, an overview of global leadership and governance, and the emerging issues that will define our future.
"A mathematical formula to evaluate social complexity in sustainable terms Author: Andreu Ginestet In September 2012, Andreu Ginestet published his book PAX, under the pseudonym Andrés Ginestet. This book contains notions on how to approach global complexity governance in a peer-to-peer perspective and in popular terms. The mathematical formula as presented is a one more piece of information com-plementing the book PAX. The same formula is being used to create policies for politics."
Binding Chaos – book by Heather Marsh We can do better than [representative democracy]. We can govern by user groups, respect individual rights and global commons, and collaborate using stigmergy. We can belong to overlapping societies voluntarily by acceptance of social contracts. Where necessary, elite expertise can be contained and used through transparent epistemic communities with knowledge bridges while control remains with the user group.
Heather Marsh is a human rights and internet activist, programmer, political theorist, and former Editor in Chief at Wikileaks Central, and the author of Binding Chaos , a compelling blueprint for 21st century governance. An excerpt:
Although Facebook is a for-profit organization, its users could transform it into a form of participatory democratic global governance.
"The mandate for the WORLD PASSPORT is Article 13(2) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.
A United Nations trusteeship, the Global Commons includes outer space, the atmosphere, non-territorial seas, and environmental systems that support life. Freedom therein is said to bring ruin to all; therefore, radical environmentalists demand stiff enforcement of international law. Among advocates of ocean governance include presidents, princes of Wales and Monaco, and dignitaries from Nature Conservancy, the UN Environment Programme, the World Bank, and International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
Crises expose weaknesses in rules and institutions, and provide impetus for reform. Macroeconomic policy coordination was strong early in the financial crisis, but momentum slowed. There has been significant progress on financial regulation, yet major challenges remain. International safety nets have been reinforced – including a trebling of IMF resources. This column argues that ensuring the future effectiveness and legitimacy of the IMF, its member countries will need to agree on greater voice and representation for emerging market countries in the interest of a better managed global economy.
Current ecological, health, economic, and cyber threats highlight the need for international institutions to step up and protect the global commons.
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"A preponderance of scientific evidence tells us that industrial civilization is transforming the planetary ecology at a rapid pace. According to the National Academy of Sciences report, "Abrupt Impacts of Climate Change," “The rate of climate change now underway is probably as fast as any warming event in the past 65 million years, and it is projected that its pace over the next 30 to 80 years will continue to be faster and more intense." We confront a variety of known and unknown factors, including species extinction and ocean acidification, that threaten our collective future. There is real potential for a rapid rise of global temperatures and the engagement of many positive feedback loops in the climate system, potentially leading to depopulation or even an extinction-level event for the human species in the near term.
In the wake of President Obama's State of the Union Address, many ponder what 2015 will look like for their families, nation, and world.
The idea of all the countries on Earth gathering under a single roof to address issues of international concern had been a dream of mankind for who knows how long before Woodrow Wilson was finally able to convince the nations of Europe to finally do it as a League of Nations.
We spoke to Janina Lowisz, the first holder of a "blockchain" ID, about the prospect of a libertarian future with no governments.
If governance is the art of governing, then it is clear that governance is in crisis, at every level. The level at which governance is most often conceived—the nation state—is simply unworkable. International organizations lack legitimacy, are stuck by vested interests and are ruled by the majority. Nobody believes anymore in reforming the UN Security Council. What is striking is that most of the pillars of our society are under stress: family, trade unions, enterprises, political parties, universities, religion and the like.
Heather Marsh is a human rights and internet activist, programmer, political theorist, and former Editor in Chief at Wikileaks Central, and the author of Binding Chaos, a compelling blueprint for 21st century governance. An excerpt:
Although Facebook is a for-profit organization, its users could transform it into a form of participatory democratic global governance.
Rachel botsman in an interview about her vision of the collaborative economy movement and her next book with OuiShare Fest Co-chair Francesca Pick. (Shift van centralised institutions naar connected communities!
In working their New Year’s resolutions, many ponder what 2014 will look like for their families, state, nation, and world. Prognostications are indicators, imperfect ones at that; but evidence backs reasoned forecasts. Carl Teichrib of Forcing Change fame compiled a tangible list of 2014 religious, geo-political, and socio-economic change events that, in essence, provide a sort of road map to the future.[1]
ENVISION THIS: A system of governance that enables mass collaboration, human rights, and local sovereignty. Heather Marsh is a political theorist and a human rights and internet activist.
If there was ever a need for political representation or a paternalistic and opaque authority it has been removed by technology. Every political system we have tried has proven incapable of protecting human rights and dignity. Every political system we have tried has devolved into oligarchy. To effect the change we require immediately, to give individuals control and responsibility, to bring regional systems under regional governance, allow global collaboration and protect the heritage of future generations, we need a new political model.
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