Overview of Day 2

Day 2 of the Conceptualising Global Democracy project included 6 sessions devoted to 6 papers. The remaining 4 papers will be discussed on Day 3. On the BGD model lead discussants of the papers were practitioners from civil society and official circles.

The papers discussed today came from authors in Venezuela, Sweden, Egypt, the Pacific, Trinidad and Russia. Discussants included activists from DR Congo, Iran, Trinidad, Nepal, Lebanon, Japan and USA, as well as (former) officials from India, Canada, Zimbabwe and the Bahamas. 

Major issues debated included the potentially colonial character of some global democracy ideas, the possibilities of so-called 'deliberative democracy' as applied to global affairs, the contributions of Islam to conceptions of global democracy, the relevance of Melanesian practices of Talanoa for global democracy, intersections of gender and global democracy, and the challenges of building global democracy under conditions of capitalism.

All moves towards formulating general findings and recommendations on the question of conceptualising global democracy. Abstracts of all papers will be available on the BGD website shortly, each in seven languages.

Session 1: 'Coloniality of Knowledge, Decolonisation and Global Democracy'

In the first session, based on a paper by Edgardo Lander, the overriding focus was on the role of knowledge in constructing global democracy and finding ways out of the current crisis. It was agreed that to advance global democracy we must go beyond present dominant structures of knowledge and respectfully embrace other modes of knowledge. It was suggested that modernity includes both domination and possibilities for emancipation. We have a responsibility to seek out alternative ways of knowing and of doing. Global spaces and encounters provide great opportunities for dialogue, exchange of knowledge across cultures. This brought out a theme that would be repeated in later sessions – that there are various models of alternative democratic practices. It was also emphasised that transcultural praxis of knowledge needs to be spiritually engaged and assume responsibility for humanity in general.

 Session 2: 'Globalizing Rule by the People: A Deliberative View'

Whereas the first session tended to emphasise what global democracy is not, the second session, based on a paper by Eva Erman, sought to establish basic common denominators for defining what democracy is or would be at a global level. The discussion reflected on the degree to which the relationship between individuals and the state in a social contract could provide a basis for global levels of democracy. Many remarks also highlighted the challenges of transferring abstract academic formulations of democracy into language and visions to resonate with people at large. Abstract frameworks need to be matched against real-life situations of power and politics and to appeal to activists and other constituencies.

Session 3: 'Beyond Western Paradigms: An Islamic Perspective on Global Democracy'

In session three, Nadia Mostafa led off a discussion of an Islamic perspective on global democracy. A number of important issues for global democracy were raised and resonated with the discussion in the first session of the importance of knowledge and values. There was an absolute need to include spiritual communities in global representation. The paper also stressed the crucial value and practice of acquaintance, civility and dialogue in creating global democracy. Global democracy entails high levels of cultural awareness. Some concerns were raised, given the difficulties that many people experienced in negotiating and accommodating diversity at the national level, how well these challenges could be handled at the global level. There was great need for an accelerated process of citizen learning for global democracy.

Session 4: 'Global Democracy as Talanoa: A Pacific Perspective'

Session four, based on a paper by Sitiveni Halapua and Peau Halapua, filled in some of the questions raised in session two. How can people be put at the core of (global) democracy? What is the language that people speak and how do people communicate their ideas and concerns? Justice is a very important component of global democracy. Representation is also a key value and may mean more to people than the abstract term 'democracy'. In constructing global-scale dialogue, legitimacy, dialogue, trust and participation may have greater weight than conventional civic norms of the modern nation-state.

Session 5: 'Gender Politics and Global Democracy: Insights from the Caribbean'

Session five, based on a paper by Patricia Mohammed, provoked reflections on gender deficits in democracy at national and global levels, as well as on how to reconceptualise gender as part of the process of constructing global democracy. It was agreed that there have been institutional advances for women through current global governance, but major gaps remain in representation and access to resources. Gender democracy is also relevant in relation to global migration, global trade, global finance, global health, global communications, global ecology.

Session 6: 'Global Democracy through National Democracy'

The sixth and final session of the day was based on a paper by Boris Kagarlitsky. The discussion explored what possibilities existed for global democracy to grow out of democratic construction at the national level. It was argued from one side that global democracy was not a meaningful subject so long as so much work was still needed to build veritable democracy at the national level. There was much critical and pessimistic commentary on regional and global institutions, but also insistence on their possibilities for advancing global democracy.

Read more about the Conceptualising Global Democracy workshop:

• Conceptualising Global Democracy Workshop
• Summary of Day 1
• Summary of Day 3
• Participant’s comments on Global Democracy
• After the workshop – The Next Steps

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