16 GOLD MERCURY INTERNATIONAL Global Governance: Towards a New Ethic
Good global governance in action Having thus emphasised the need for an ethical dialogue in global governance and a duty to consider future contingencies, we shall end with summarising some select developments and why they have formed a significant milestone in the ‘learning process’ that is global governance. Successful global governance and the positive global ethic that goes towards creating it not just there to fill us with virtue but as we see, has legal, political, social and cultural impact, too.
GOOD GLOBAL GOVERNANCE IN ACTION AREA
EXAMPLE
CONTEXT
Peace and
Nuclear Disarmament
Movement was splintered over history until extreme danger of nuclear war became clear to all nations in the 60s. The nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), signed in 1968, was international in scope and led to international means to seek disarmament. States established trust in their counterparts to respect normative principles of non-aggression at the expense of scepticism.
Global Economic & Social Policy
European Union & adoption of the Euro
Europe created a currency union, the European Monetary Union in 2002 and launched the Euro. The Euro is a supranational currency, based on trust in regional institutional mechanisms (the European Central Bank). It ultimately promotes a cosmopolitan perspective of governance.
Global Resources
Private regulatory schemes to protect the world’s forests
In the 1970s the world’s forests made it on to the global agenda following concerns about increased deforestation, forest degradation and loss of biodiversity. Governments established various global forums such as the United Nations Forests Forum (2000-05). These largely failed. Now actors are turning to private regulatory schemes, such as the Forest Stewardship Council. Global governance failed in one area but innovated and turned to transnational civil society. Private-civil society regimes can be implemented as part of global governance without nation state involvement. The FSC, which is deemed a success, highlights the alternatives available, although there is still much to be done in governance of forests and the world’s other resources.
Security