The Structural Redistribution for Global Democracy (SRGD) project takes as its starting point that greater democracy in the governance of global affairs can only be achieved with a more even distribution of world resources. Clearer thinking on global democracy (as pursued through the Concptualising Global Democracy project), more critically aware and mobilised citizens (as promoted through the Citizen Learing for Global Democracy project), and more publicly accessible policymaking processes (as supported through the Including the Excluded in Global Policymaking project) are all vital. However, such initiatives cannot reach their full potential in democratising the regulation of global relations so long as people across the world have hugely unequal access to economic resources. Material inequality quickly translates into political inequality.

 

The Structural Redistribution for Global Democracy project will assemble researchers, civil society actors and officials who have pursued various schemes to effect a progressive redistribution of world resources, so that citizens everywhere can have more equal opportunities to shape global policies. As ever in the Building Global Democracy programme, participants in the SRGD project will be drawn from diverse regions, cultures, disciplines and political visions.

 

Examples of possible case studies in this project include a global airline tax; a currency transaction tax; social banking and local currencies in global finance; creative commons licences and open source in global knowledge; fair trade schemes in global commerce; a World Mobility Organization in respect of global migration; and the principle of universal basic income. Particular attention will be given to identifying forces that promote and/or frustrate the implementation of such proposals.

 

It is provisionally intended that the workshop for the SRGD project will be held in Addis Ababa in September 2011. Various presentations and publications will follow. It is hoped to launch the eventual book in the Caribbean.