Our Global Neighborhood
The report of the Commission on Global Governance
Chapter One -- A New World
The collective power of people to shape the future is greater now than ever before,and the need to exercise it is more compelling. Mobilizing that power to make life inthe twenty- first century more democratic, more secure, and more sustainable is theforemost challenge of this generation. The world needs a new vision that cangalvanize people everywhere to achieve higher levels of co- operation in areas of common concern and shared destiny.Fifty years ago, international co- operation, collective security, and international lawwere powerful concepts. In 1945, world leaders met in San Francisco to sign theUnited Nations Charter, a document expressing the universal hope that a new era ininternational behaviour and governance was about to begin. The onset of the cold wardid not entirely smother that hope, but it greatly diminished its fulfilment.As the cold war ended in 1989, revolution in Central and Eastern Europe extended themovement towards democratization and economic transformation, raising theprospect of a strengthened commitment to the pursuit of common objectives throughmultilateralism. The world community seemed to be uniting around the idea that itshould assume greater collective responsibility in a wide range of areas, includingsecurity--not only in a military sense but in economic and social terms as well--sustainable development, the promotion of democracy, equity and human rights, andhumanitarian action.In the three years since the idea for the Commission on Global Governance wasadvanced by the Stockholm Initiative and endorsed by leaders around the world, themood has changed significantly. Today, given such experiences as the Gulf War, theenormities of ethnic cleansing in the Balkans, brutal violence in Somalia, andgenocide in Rwanda, there is far less assurance. And there is deepening disquiet overthe actions--and in some cases the inaction--of governments and of the UnitedNations. Instead of coming together around a common vision of the way forward, theworld seems in danger of losing its way.
The Concept of Global Governance
There is no alternative to working together and using collective power to create abetter world.Governance is the sum of the many ways individuals and institutions, public andprivate, manage their common affairs. It is a continuing process through whichconflicting or diverse interests may be accommodated and co- operative action maybe taken. It includes formal institutions and regimes empowered to enforcecompliance, as well as informal arrangements that people and institutions either have
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