Below are daily updates from the Conceptualising Global Democracy workshop held in Cairo on 6-8 December 2009.

Summary of Day 1

Summary of Day 2

Summary of Day 3

Read more about the workshop 

Summary of Day 1  

Welcome and introductions

The workshop opened with a session of general introductions. Dr. Hoda Mitkees, Director of the Center for Political Research & Studies at Cairo University, welcomed the participants, including the 10 BGD programme conveners, 12 authors, 20 discussants and a number of local participants. Heba Raouf Ezzat, the BGD Programme convenor for the Middle East and North Africa region, provided participants with a brief introduction to broad questions that the workshop could explore in the coming days.

The nature of global democracy - key questions

The first substantive session of the workshop was chaired by Anand Kumar, of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and BGD convenor for the South Asia region. 

The session looked at identifying some of the important questions about the general nature and purpose of democracy and about the nature of global democracy more particularly. These issues, which later workshop sessions will address in more detail, include:

• broad definitions of democracy
• democracy as a core value in the governance of global affairs
• the relationship between democracy and other possible core values of a good society such as liberty, material welfare, peace and social justice
• the relationship between democracy and social categories such as age, class, ethnicity, faith, gender and race
• whether traditional definitions, principles and practices of democracy need to be adjusted when it comes to governing global affairs
• if so, what kinds of changes would be suitable and feasible

A single understanding of global democracy?

Specific remarks that arose in the discussion included the great diversity of concepts of democracy and the illusion of thinking that this workshop (let alone the wider world) could reach a single understanding of global democracy.

At the same time, several speakers cautioned, respect for 'diversity' should not extend so far as to violate the core principles of democracy. Also, diversity must be a basis for solidarity rather than a cause of fragmentation in global politics. It was also stressed to conceive of democracy in a holistic fashion that goes beyond mere political procedures to include wider economy, society and ecology.

Making concepts accessible & goals viable

Other commentators urged the need to make concepts of global democracy accessible and convincing to 'ordinary' people. In particular, given the large proportion of the world's people who are young, global democracy must appeal to and prominently include youth.

Another recurrent concern was to interconnect global democracy with democracy in regional, national, local and household spheres. And it was vital that the discussions should treat goals, principles and ideals of global democracy in ways that could feed into concrete political practice.

Closing comments

A closing commentator noted a lot of confusion surrounded ideas of global democracy and that we are just at the beginning of making the history of global democracy. The moderator summarised in conclusion that the session had left participants more confused about global democracy, but also more committed to it. 

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Summary of Day 2

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.

Potentially colonial character of some global democracy ideas

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.

'Deliberative democracy' as applied to global affairs

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.

Contributions of Islam to conceptions of 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.

Relevance of Melanesian practices of Talanoa for global democracy

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.

Gender and global democracy

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.

Challenges of building global democracy under capitalism

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.

Abstracts of all papers discussed at the workshop will be available on the BGD website shortly in the following languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French. Hindi, Portuguese, Russian & Spanish.

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Summary of Day 3

These points and more have been incorporated in a policy brief outlining key recommendations from the conceptualising global democracy workshop. The policy brief is available on our website in the following languages: العربية , 简体中文 ,  English , Español , Français , Português and Русский 

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cairo workshop | workshop summary | after the workshop - the next steps

 

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