Results of the Forum on the World Parliament.

The results of the first phase of discussion of the electronic forum “A World Parliament for the 21st Century” (October 2002 - January 2003) are now available in English and have been for some time also in French

What are the values and principles for building a world community? What is the role of each of the international institutions in the map of global governance? How can we imagine a body that is able to represent and to combine, democratically, the complexity of the human family? How can this institution be representative, legitimate, and organized on a day-to-day work basis? What strategies are needed to build a world democracy? What are the first steps that the participants of an electronic forum could take to implement some of these strategies?

These were the questions raised as an invitation to the discussion, in which some one hundred persons from more than sixty countries participated. The discussion led to some proposals but also to new questions. Among the proposals: a world governance giving voice to civil society; an institutional organization able to find the means to involve every citizen in the decisions concerning him or her; to create a movement for world democracy and a World Parliament; to make a radical change in our conception and practice of democracy.

Among the tools to represent complexity and flexibility (i.e., the multiplicity of diversity while preventing the consolidation of a top-down organization including favoritism...) it is worth mentioning, among others, representation by task or "communities of ideas" (each representative is elected for the time of completion of a task or project voted by all) and a decision-making process through sociocratic circles from the neighborhood to the world with a limited number of members, and using consent (more cooperation) instead of the electoral system (more competition)

Obviously, the process of deepening democracy doesn’t only consist of having proper tools but also of proper practices. The document that you will find on the Web site responds to the first phase of discussions (October 2002 - April 2003), which has been followed by more discussions to the present date (June 2004), which are available here, as well as a document on the results of the workshops at the WSF 2004, which is available here.

Currently, there are new questions and challenges with us in the continuation of the workshop these past months. Among them:

 To include the topics of civil society in a sort of a proto ­ assembly, which could be a forum of expression for some groups, or to be more focused on sharing experiences and methodologies for the institutional organization.

 To promote global issues among the media and public opinion (as such issues are little dealt with in general and not well-known except for the American - Islamic "clash of civilizations"), by amplifying the different points of view, and this way to reinforce the debate and the forums where such a debate takes place.

 How to invent a participative democracy for a multi-scale world. What importance could be given to informal democracy based on trust and consent and what importance could be given to a formal or institutional democracy, which accepts lack of trust as a supposedly unavoidable element for large-scale organization (region, state, world)?

 Global governance as one of the elements of other collective projects for deepening democracy and for building a global community affecting all human dimensions: economy of solidarity, sustainable societies, a new definition of human rights and responsibilities, and strategies for their application, education and communication based on the promotion of respect, solidarity, cooperation, and trust in others.

 The World Parliament or World Citizens Assembly as an instrumental element symbolizing a specific objective within a permanent struggle for systemic change.

You are invited to participate in such a debate. For more information please contact Germà Pelayo

MORE ON THIS ISSUE

Links:

The World Parliament Forum Web site

Readings: