The Building Global Democracy (BGD) research programme aims to advance knowledge and action for greater public participation and control in the governance of global affairs. The initiative explores how ‘rule by and for the people’ – a core attribute of human livelihood and a good society – can operate when addressing global challenges of the present age.

 

Under this overall goal the BGD programme has more specific objectives: (a) to increase academic, practitioner and general public attention to problems of global democracy; (b) to elaborate and clarify notions of democracy in respect of global politics; (c) to record and assess past efforts to advance democracy in global relations; (d) to contribute viable visions and proposals for a democratization of global affairs; (e) to advance capacities (among academics, practitioners and the public at large) to promote democracy in global politics; (f) to foster practitioner-researcher exchange on the issue of global democracy; and (g) to further advocacy networks for democratizations of global governance.

 

The BGD programme starts from a fivefold diagnosis of the principal shortfalls of democracy in current regulation of global matters. Conceptually, ideas of democracy have not been adequately reformulated to address the altered circumstances of geography, governance and identity that mark today’s more global world. Pedagogically, processes of learning for empowered citizenship in global politics have not been sufficiently developed. Institutionally, the agencies that perform governance of global issues suffer from acute accountability deficits, particularly in relation to marginalized circles of society. Economically, highly unequal distributions of world resources (inter alia on lines of class, country, gender and race) create large discrepancies in people’s possibilities for involvement in global politics. Culturally, numerous collective identities (inter alia on lines of disability, faith, indigeneity and sexuality) lack due recognition and voice in contemporary governance of global affairs. Needless to say, these five core problems of building global democracy often interrelate and reinforce one another.

 

To address these respective challenges the BGD programme comprises five projects of action-oriented research. The first project, entitled ‘Conceptualizing Global Democracy’, explores how democracy can be (re-)envisioned to be meaningful for a more global world, particularly from the perspective of circles that are currently marginalized in global politics. The second project, ‘Citizen Learning for Global Democracy’, examines how affected people (again, especially those currently in subordinate positions) can become more empowered through greater knowledge of global relations and their governance. The third project, ‘Including the Excluded in Global Policymaking’, considers how governance institutions in global affairs can be made more accessible and responsive to heretofore sidelined constituencies. The fourth project, ‘Structural Redistribution for Global Democracy’, assesses how alternative allocations of world resources can help currently subordinated stakeholders to obtain due participation and control in the governance of global affairs. The fifth project, ‘Intercultural Constructions of Global Democracy’, investigates how increased legitimacy in the governance of global affairs can be achieved with greater recognition of, and more effective communication and negotiation among, the diverse life-worlds that inhabit global domains.

 

Several major questions cut across and unite the five projects within the BGD programme. One is the issue of power: who currently decides in the regulation of global affairs; and what rearrangements of power could deliver more democratic global governance? Another cross-cutting matter concerns causality: what forces have generated present shortfalls in global democracy; and what forces could be nurtured and tapped to overcome those failings? A third general problem for all five projects relates to agency: which official, civil society, political party, media, business and/or other actors have hindered democratic governance of global affairs to date; and how could these and/or other players promote a democratization of regimes for global issues in future? In addition, all parts of the BGD programme face a key question of political geography: in what spaces – household, locality, country, region and/or planet – are efforts to promote democratic governance of global affairs best pursued? Then there is the matter of collective identity and associated ideas and practices of citizenship: have conventional notions of community possibly hampered global democracy; and, if so, what alternative constructions of ‘the public’ could advance ‘rule by and for the people’ in global affairs? Also, every discussion of global democracy must consider the relationship between individual and collective interests: how can democracy in global politics be practiced so as maximally to further both individual self-realization and the commonweal? Finally, the whole BGD programme confronts issues concerning democracy and violence in global affairs: how have past strivings for democracy in global realms sometimes undermined peace; and how could future global democracy be enacted so that it promotes non-violent expression of conflicts?

 

Methodologically, the BGD programme pursues these questions – and the package of five projects that addresses them – on the central principles of diversity, praxis and reflexivity. In terms of diversity, all aspects of the programme draw on a wide variety of regional, cultural, disciplinary, and ideological inputs. Likewise, participation in the programme involves diversity across age groups, classes, genders, races, and other social categories. Regarding praxis, not only is research work of the projects geared towards concrete action, but in addition practitioners from official and civil society circles take prominent part in major programme events. With respect to reflexivity, the programme is conducted with critical regard to its internal power relations and its own democratic challenges.

 

Execution of the BGD programme is facilitated and coordinated through a convening group with regional, cultural, disciplinary, ideological, and gender diversity. The convening group jointly commissions ten studies for each of the five projects. Each set of ten authors (which is also marked by multiple diversities) meets together to discuss draft papers in a workshop where the lead commentators come from civil society and official quarters. Workshop findings and recommendations are summarized in a policy brief that is issued in seven languages. Papers are then revised and edited for publication in a book series with a major international publishing house. In addition to the books, intensive public communications through a website, oral presentations, journal articles, and media contacts ensure that programme results reach a full range of audiences.

 

The BGD programme aims to make a difference to global politics. To assess these impacts the convening group will track an array of specific indicators in relation to the seven programme objectives. In addition, regular reflections by the convening group on what is being learned and accomplished will prompt ongoing adjustments to the programme prospectus itself.