In the course of 1999, it is intended that a Centre for Global Policy Studies be established to develop the work of the Project further. Plans for the Centre are as follows.
Statutory Purpose:
The Centre will take as its statutory purpose, the objectives adapted
from the original Terms of Reference of the Project, as follows:
To develop further the concepts of the "planetary interest", "legitimate
national interest" and "legitimate global power" as an integrated analytical
framework designed to:
(a) assist policy-makers such as politicians, legislators and government
officials to analyse and understand global problems of the 21st century
in order better to formulate sound national policies towards such problems
that can be accepted as legitimate by other countries; and
(b) assist citizens of all countries understand these same problems,
to enable them to act as an informed populace, judge the legitimacy of
national policies of their countries, and develop individual lifestyles
more in harmony with the global solutions required in the modern age.
Structure:
The Centre will thus be composed of two main units:
· policy analysis and advice to the public sector, especially
international organizations, national officials and parliamentarians;
· information to the private sector, especially non-governmental
organizations, corporations and citizens. This service will be developed
in collaboration, inter alia, with the Institute of Education, University
of London (Education and International Development Group).
A Political Advisory Council, comprised of eminent politicians, will provide political guidance for the development of the Centre and the range of activities it undertakes.
An Academic Network, comprised of recognized experts in the main fields of global security, will undertake or commission the research work in connection with the Centre’s activities and publications.
A secretariat, comprised of a Director, a Research Officer and an Administrative Assistant will manage the daily activities of the Centre.
Planned Activities:
Planned activities to be undertaken by the Centre will include:
· seminars convened to explore selected aspects of the ‘planetary
interest’;
· roundtables with policy-makers to consider and promote the
‘planetary interest’:
· research monographs and an Occasional Paper series directed
to selected topics relevant to the terms of reference
(see Areas of Enquiry below);
· a newsletter for policy-makers, contributed by policy-makers
(see Areas of Enquiry below);
· contributions to journals and periodicals;
· other publications and activities as appropriate and in furtherance
of the Terms of Reference.
Areas of Enquiry:
Subject areas which the Centre will explore, as currently envisaged, may include the following:
Research Monographs:
The following subjects will comprise the focus of a single monograph of a monograph series.
1. “Subsidiarity and Global Governance”
The principle of subsidiarity requires that jurisdictional competence devolve to the lowest scale of institutional authority commensurate with the scale of the issue. In the name of democratic accountability, political and legislative powers covering certain issues are, in many societies, increasingly devolving to the sub-national level. The principle does not preclude, however, and indeed its application may result in, certain issues requiring jurisdictional authority at the supra-national level -- both regional and global.
This enquiry will investigate which issues, within regional organizations and within nation-states are devolving towards the sub-national level, and which are appropriately to be handled by a global institutional authority -- the emerging “global governance”.
2. "The Planetary Interest: Is the Global Objective, and Strategy, Adequate?"
In the three areas identified in the book as constituting to date the "vital planetary interest" (protection from weapons of mass destruction, dangerous interference with the global environment, and unsustainable drawdown of Earth's resources), the question necessarily arises whether the international community, acting through the official policies of the nation-states, has identified a global objective and strategy that is sufficient to meet the global threat.
This monograph series will explore, in more detail than the book was able to, the planetary interest, and the associated global objective and strategy, in each of these problem areas, and perhaps others which may be identified by the international community), and assess their likely adequacy for the 21st century.
3. “The Planetary Interest: Are Current National Policies Adequate?
-- The Legitimate National
Interest: An Index and Ranking”
The premise of the book, “The Planetary Interest”, is that in issues that evoke the “vital planetary interest”, the national policies of all countries must reflect their “legitimate national interest” which is, by definition, compatible with the higher-level concept. In the book, eight chapters are devoted to critical issues pertaining to human survival (nuclear weapons, chemical and biological weapons, ozone depletion, climate change, population growth, sustainable development, sustainable consumption and sustainable forestry), and politicians from sixteen countries consider their national policies in this context.
This monograph will seek to elaborate and deepen the initial exploration in a more rigorous and analytical manner than was possible in the book. It will seek to develop a methodology by which an index can be devised that can be applied to the policies of all countries in these eight areas. Comparable work has been undertaken in the social-economic field by UNDP in its annual Human Development Index. Titled “Good Citizenship by Nations: An Index of the Legitimate National Interest”, the study will measure and reflect the extent to which selected nations are meeting the “planetary interest” in their national policies.
4. “The Planetary Interest: A Philosophical Basis”
An enquiry will be conducted into the emerging global values that are gradually becoming accepted as common to all of humanity. Some work has already been undertaken in this area by, inter alia, Professor Hans Kung of Tubingen University in Germany, Dr. Sisela Bok of Harvard University, the Parliament of the World’s Religions and the InterAction Council. The enquiry will explore what philosophical basis might be developed for the application of enforcement power at the global level in those areas that threaten the survival of humanity.
5. “The Planetary Interest: Co-operation, Compliance, Enforcement”
While co-operation is the desired style of inter-state activity in the late-twentieth and early twenty-first century, there are occasions when a state’s behaviour will transgress the established norms and, on occasion, international law. The question of an enforcement mechanism by the international community to ensure compliance with those norms and laws is increasingly at issue. This enquiry will, as with the others, draw the distinction between what is in the “vital planetary interest” and what is not, and will explore mechanisms for ensuring compliance in the latter areas.
6. The Planetary Interest: Governmental, Business and Civil Society Responsibilities
In the age of globalization, the nation-state is playing a less pre-eminent role in shaping the course of human events, and governments are exerting a less dominant influence. Connections and alliances between multinational corporations with global reach and among individual citizens around the world are having a more direct influence on "global policy" and even a discernible physical impact upon the planet. To what extent are national policies, as formulated by governments, and international policy as negotiated by them the principal determinant of "global policy"? To what extent do such non-governmental activities circumvent, and even thwart such "global policy"? To what extent can the non-governmental organizations -- business and industry, and the civil society -- be naturally integrated into the official policy-making at the global level? To what extent can their activities be legislated for, in the context of the "planetary interest", and the "legitimate national interest"?
This monograph will explore these issues, and seek to develop insights
into the relationship between the governmental and non-governmental dimensions
of "global policy-making".
7. The Planetary Interest and Individual Lifestyles
The concept of the planetary interest has hitherto been devoted to official policy-making, considering the adequacy of the global objective to the nature of the problem, and the legitimacy of national policies in pursuit of the planetary interest. But the national contribution to the planetary interest is also the aggregate of what all the citizens of a country do, in their lifestyles and personal decision-making. Many concerned citizens, moreover, encountering feelings of personal frustration in face of increasingly obvious global problems, are asking themselves what they can do to alleviate matters. Yet the distance between the scale and magnitude of a global problem and the effect of individual behaviour is so great, so much greater than that even between the national and the individual levels, that most people do not know where or how to start, and many give up before they do start. This monograph will explore the relationship between the planetary interest and the individual, rather than the planetary interest and the nation. It will translate many of the global statistics into personal terms, and develop ‘thresholds of personal behaviour’ for the planet -- in terms of, inter alia, energy use, ecological footprint, and per capita consumption patterns. The aim will be to emerge with a prescriptive “code of personal conduct for the planet”.
8. The planetary interest subject series:
8/1. The planetary interest and climate change
8/2. The planetary interest and ozone depletion
8/3. The planetary interest and nuclear weapons
8/4. The planetary interest and chemical and biological weapons
8/5. The planetary interest and population planning
8/6. The planetary interest and sustainable development
8/7. The planetary interest and sustainable consumption
8/8. The planetary interest and deforestation
This monograph series will explore, in more detail than was possible
in the book, the national policies of all countries in the context of the
legitimate national interest concept, for each subject matter identified
as in the vital planetary interest. In the book, only two countries
were selected for analysis in each case. In the monograph, the criteria
will be applied to a large number of the more important countries, or those
most affected by the global problem. Assessments will be made of
the legitimacy of each country’s national interest as portrayed in its
current policy. Other potential subjects for analysis could include:
The Planetary Interest and Food Security
The Planetary Interest and Water Stress
A Newsletter:
“The Planetary Interest and the National Interest: Parliamentarian Commentaries”
In contrast with the above four areas of enquiry which will be essentially academic research projects, this will take the form of more regular political commentary, on the part of current and former politicians, on global issues that threaten the “vital planetary interest”. It will be designed to be a regular free-flowing forum for expression of views by parliamentarians in respect of the legitimacy of their own countries’ policies and the legitimacy of others’ as well.