Looking for the coal and steel for global governance

Monnet's lessons for global governance
By Hakan Altinay and Andre Wilkens

Could a global emissions-trading system serve as the European Coal and Steel Community of our times?
Extraordinary times call for extraordinary ideas, like the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community, which later became the European Union. That idea transformed a continent of conflict and hatred into a haven of peace, stability and prosperity.
Jean Monnet conceived of it becoming even more. In his memoirs, he wrote that “the Community we have created is not an end in itself. The sovereign nations of the past can no longer solve the problems of the present; they cannot control their own future.” The European Community should only be a stage on the way to the organised world of tomorrow, he wrote.
The London G20 summit was a success in global crisis management, but it failed to show a direction for the climate crisis. These are extraordinary times that demand extraordinary ideas about how we can organise the world. Those grappling with global challenges such as climate change and globalised finance should learn three lessons from Monnet.
Firstly, Monnet and the other founding fathers seized on the yearning for a new order. Europeans pooled sovereignty only after having exhausted all other options and paid overwhelming costs. There is a growing understanding now that the forces that influence our daily well-being are not restricted to national borders. Securitisation practices in the US's financial sector affect economies half-way around the world. Carbons released in China influence crop yields in Africa. An epidemic in Africa may well depress air travel in Europe. Something better is needed, an increasing number of people believe.
Secondly, big ideas need a pragmatic foundation. Monnet had a big vision for Europe but he started very pragmatically by pooling sovereignty over the issues of coal and steel. Might it be that a truly global emissions-trading system, which addresses the most fundamental global issue of today, climate change, could become this century's equivalent of coal and steel?
Thirdly, the European project highlights the risk of overshooting. In 2005, two of the EU's founding members – France and the Netherlands – voted down steps considered vital by their political elites. Decades after the pooling of sovereignty began, European societies continue to view the nation state as their primary medium of participation. Enthusiasts for global governance should accept that few people will opt for an abstract world government over nation states, that most of us feel allegiance primarily to others who are like us. That is no bad thing. Nor does that spell trouble for better global governance. One needs to be multilateralist to be patriotic precisely because you cannot achieve the outcomes desired by your nation state by acting alone.
Monnet had the wisdom to view the EU as a step towards better world co-operation; he also had the pragmatism needed to roll out his vision in manner that outlived him. Advocates of enhanced global governance should learn from Europe's experiment.

Hakan Altinay is executive director of the Open Society Foundation (Turkey), and Andre Wilkens is a member of the European Council on Foreign Relations.
http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/2009/04/monnet's-lessons-for-global-governance/64593.aspx

How the UN bureaucracy can make the world a better place?

What have the UN bureaucracy, climate change and the global automotive crisis have in common? By linking them, they can help making the world a better place. And here is how:

1. Insights

The UN is seen by many primarily as a big bureaucracy. While thedre is of course more to the UN, there is no doubt that it is big and slow.
The UN is not in best shape. Even though the US hardcore attitude towards the UN has changed, it has lost much of its relevance and central stage.
For many the UN is also associated with a fleet of big, fat, white SUVs. While this is good for visibility, protection and often important in difficult terrain, big SUVs are now also a sign of the past, throw-away society. The latest car shows in Detroit and Geneva are a clear sign that the dominant colour of the automotive industry will be green.
Climate change is the biggest global challenge of our times and so far the UN has played an important role in putting the issue on the global agenda by trying to set targets and monitoring them. However, success in the real world has been meagre and where it happens it is difficult to credit the UN for it.
The global automotive industry is in crisis and is now going through a major transformation. Carmakers need to reposition themselves as providers of sustainable mobility.

2. The idea
The UN and its agencies/affiliates can use its global procurement power to commission the World Car of the future, helping to fight climate change and accelerating the transformation of the automotive industry. Doing this will also help reposition the UN as a foreward looking organisation with tangible impact in the real world.

3. How?
With a fleet of tens of thousands of vehicles the UN is one of the biggest owners and buyers of vehicles worldwide. Rather than buying what is on the market, the UN procurement experts should sit together with aid workers, engineers, car designers and environmentalists and draw up the specifications for the global UN car of the future. Car makers would then have to design a car with the incentive of winning the biggest global supply contract. The car itself can then also be produced in mass production after the UN initial orders have been filled. And all those car makers which did not get the UN contract will still be able to get their car design into production.

4. What are the benefits?
A better vehicle fleet will reduce CO2 emissions of the UN and make the UN lead by example. UN member states and donors will be confident that their contribution is used in a good way.
The action will positions the UN as a doer not just talker. It will also position the UN as innovative and relevant in the real world, and will turn the outdated UN SUV image into a proactive green image.
And the car industry will have a first global client who commits to making a big first mover order. This first big order will fund part of the development and production costs of the winning global car of the future.

And this is how you turn a difficult image (big, fat bureaucracy) into an advantage (big customer power) and help to make the world a better place. Sounds too easy, but let's try.