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Engineering Space in Global Governance: the Emergence of Civil Society in Evolving ‘New’ Multilateralism

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Future Multilateralism

Part of the book series: International Political Economy Series ((IPES))

Abstract

Several recent studies have demonstrated concern in one way or another with the issue of democratizing, or pluralizing, global governance.1 The main issue being addressed is the extent to which existing, largely state-centric, multilateral institutions are willing to accommodate the interests and demands of individuals and groups that make up a recently empowered civil society which is apparently now being reconstituted along global lines.

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Notes

  1. Among them are Yoshikazu Sakamoto, ‘Democratization, Social Movements and World Order’, in Björn Hettne (ed.), International Political Economy: Understanding Global Disorder (Halifax: Fernwood Publishing, 1995), pp. 129–43

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  9. For an excellent discussion of the question of the practical unattainability of this ideal see Inis Claude, Jr, Swords into Plowshares: The Problems and Progress of International Organization, (New York: Random House, 1984), pp. 414–20.

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  10. See W. Andy Knight, ‘Multilateral Evolution and Change in the United Nations System: The Quest for Global Governance’, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation (Toronto: York University, 1995).

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  22. For a depiction of the dominant forces see Susan Strange, ‘Territory, State, Authority and Economy: A New Realist Ontology of Global Political Economy’, in Robert W. Cox (ed.), The New Realism: Perspectives on Multilateralism and World Order (London: Macmillan for the United Nations University Press/Macmillan, 1997)

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  31. Underlying all of these attempts at defining civil society are three persistent debates. The first is an old controversy within the field of democratic theory between defenders of elite versus participatory democratic models. The second is a primarily Anglo-American debate between ‘right-oriented liberalism’ and ‘communitarianism’. The third debate is one that pits neo-conservative advocates of the free market against defenders of the welfare state. For a full discussion of these debates see the Introduction to Jean L. Cohen and Andrew Arato, Civil Society and Political Theory (Cambridge, Mass: The MIT Press, 1992).

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  44. To use a term coined by Robert Keohane and Joseph Nye, Power and Interdependence: World Politics in Transition (Boston: Little, Brown & Company, 1977), see especially chapter 2.

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Authors
  1. W. Andy Knight
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. James Madison College, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA

    Michael G. Schechter (Professor of International Relations) (Professor of International Relations)

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© 1999 The United Nations University

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Knight, W.A. (1999). Engineering Space in Global Governance: the Emergence of Civil Society in Evolving ‘New’ Multilateralism. In: Schechter, M.G. (eds) Future Multilateralism. International Political Economy Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-27153-5_10

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