Theme

Process of World Integration-Alternative Visions

Day one: Visions of the Developing World

One important outcome of the first two Forum 2000 conferences was the affirmation that there is a growing risk of polarization between those parts of the world that may be described as the “centre” and the “periphery”. These are not solely geographical designations. The periphery can also take the form of deteriorating areas of many Western cities inhabited by marginalised social groups or it can be isolated rural areas that have ceased to develop, or even to be represented by declining middle classes or other social groups.

The regions with no economic impetus tend to be the ones where there is high population growth, weak government, or serious political instability, and are frequently marked by social disintegration, poverty, and institutional dysfunction. Their problems often include a technology and information deficit, though it must be stressed that the so-called Communications Revolution brought about by the new telecommunications technology is also rapidly penetrating the poorest parts of the world. A new kind of tension is being created between technological progress and the social situation of certain countries. In the peripheral areas of the world, ecological devastation continues, local cultures in many cases disintegrate, and a new hybrid culture emerges that is often based on a superficial acceptance of Western values. This engenders a cultural primitivism and a political radicalism that are frequently the result of contact with disparate elements of imported Western culture. One must also not forget the earlier causes of the present state of the peripheral areas of the world – i.e., the legacy of colonialism, the radical cult of rejecting the West, the thirst for power of new political elites, etc.

The prospects for such peripheral areas are varied. Above all there exist various kinds of periphery with unequal chances either to preserve their identity or to combine it with Western values, or alternatively to accept Western modernity for the most part and retain just a few external aspects of their own original cultures. The situation is without doubt extremely confused, and the course of future development may be extremely varied.

Day two: Visions of Countries in Transition and the Developed World

It would be imprudent and naive to imagine that the so-called developed world has a straightforward and coherent future ahead of it. Without necessarily accepting the views of the pessimists who predict that in the coming decades the West will suffer greater and more serious turbulence than it experienced in the 20th century, there is no reason to believe that the future course of the richest and most developed countries will be simple. Paradoxically, many of the problems that will confront that part of the world will be the result of the region’s success. Moreover, among the main causes of the marginalisation of the peripheral areas will be the unresolved dilemmas of the rich and developed centre.

The internal problems of these parts of the world are revealed through the rapid processes of globalization and the dynamics of modern capitalism combined with the rapid changes both of lifestyle and of human values have a disturbing effect on the broad mass of the population losing their bearings in this world of “success”.

The economics of present-day international capitalism and the related globalization processes complicate the relationship between democracy and the market economy. Their symbiotic relationship evident in the past, when they assisted each other, has been disrupted. In recent times various observers have maintained that democratic institutions are under threat from the dynamics of the economy. This applies to the so-called global forms of capitalism in particular. Whole new issues are raised and proposals are emerging for new forms of political power and government, as well as new ways of regulating society. To a great extent it concerns not only the relationship between politics and economics, but also the relationship between economics and the environment. There is growing tension between the individual major sub-systems of present-day societies, and it is hard to find ways of attenuating it.

One thing is clear, however: the old political habits and policies are no longer effective. There is a need for vigorous and flexible policies based on practical, specialized knowledge. The pressure for a renewal of political culture and political skills is all the greater in view of the need to react to global economic and technological transformation. Traditional forms of political negotiation appear unnable to cope with these new challenges. This applies particularly to the political paradigms that were formed at the time of the developed nation-state. Today the concepts of power, territory and frontier – and particularly the idea of balance of power – are no longer working. New forms of power are emerging alongside new forms of mutual inspection, mutual concealment and intrusive verification. Alongside the traditional supranational structures and long-established hegemonic political entities, new transnational entities are emerging– such as the European Union – and are hard to classify and define.

Day three: Common visions

Globalization also represents a challenge to the economy, of course. First and foremost there are the mechanisms of the newly-emerging information society, such as “new economy” and “gift economy”. It would also seem that certain models of neo-classical economics based on the concept of balance are of no help in understanding present-day economies. Present-day economics must have greater understanding for the externals and take greater account of the social, ecological and moral context than in the past.

The processes of globalization have thrown into sharp focus issues concerning the possibility of harmonizing political freedoms and economic performance with social cohesiveness in societies that are now extremely fragmented, and also maintaining the quality of the environment at a level capable of ensuring the survival of nature.

In the Western world, considerations about how to harmonize those features of the contemporary world are tending to abandon trust in the market alone and instead seeking regulatory mechanisms outside of it. This is a legitimate approach, but it also reveals certain dangers, such as the possible emergence of ecologically-motivated authoritarian structures, or even authoritarian structures for redistributing non-renewable resources. The redistribution of those resources could even provoke military conflict. Whether we accept a more optimistic or pessimistic forecast, it is clear that the need for a rethinking of forms of governance in the light of the shrinking role of the nation-state and the increasingly complex relationship between the economy, politics and the environment requires an intensive search for new forms and institutions to tackle the relationship between the private sector, the state and the civic sector of contemporary society.

There has not yet been enough reflection and discussion about the extension of democracy to the newly-emerging transnational formations, let alone about democracy on a world scale. Nonetheless it is clear, as our Forum 2000 conferences have shown, that reflection on these issues is vital and it ought to become the content of what might be termed “the nascent global civil society”. Forum 2000 seeks to be a place outside the official structures from which suggestions may emerge for formulating a response to the burning issues raised by present globalization.