Social Justice in an Open World: The Role of the United Nations
Does globalization help generate resources that could be mobilized, nationally and internationally, for the financing of social sewices and global public goods? Is the currently dominant role of the financial economy an obstacle to the national and international mobilization of resources for social development? Is the concentration of private economic and social power that the current process of globalization appears to promote having an impact on social development and the financing of such development? Competition is presented both as a feature of human nature and as a virtue, at least in the political ethos surrounding globalization. Does this emphasis on competition have implications for the financing of social development?
Theme 3: Ideally, what should the contours of financing for social development be? One of the working assumptions of the Forum was the usefulness of orienting thoughts and actions within a wider frame of reference-a long-term perspective, an intellectual and moral horizon, or even a utopia. This is perhaps especially necessary when the subject under discussion has various technical aspects. A corollary to this assumption is that ideals should be firm in terms of underlying values but flexible with regard to modes of implementation and open to question and revision as they are challenged by other ideals and changing circumstances. Reflection and debate on the subject of financing global social development might, for example, focus on the respective roles of public agencies, the business sector, civil society organizations, and families and individuals at the local, national, international and global levels; the merits of the idea of a guaranteed minimum income for all individuals, with part of the financing coming from global sources, or of the idea of a global system of social protection and social security; and the type(s) of institution(s) that would be required to assume such global responsibilities while being subjected to democratic management and control. Discussions relating to the present thematic focus prompted the following questions: Whatprinciples and criteria could help determine the ideal mix of local, national, regional and global sources for the public financing of the various aspects of social development? How could the roles and responsibilities of public and private sources be defined and divided most effectively? What would the best method be for financing global public goods? Would the "globalized" part of social development be best financed by a progressive income tax, by taxes on various transactions, by voluntary public and