'Our Preparation Stands in Expectation'.

• Author: Voicu, Ioan
• Position: Brief Article

MANAGE THE GLOBALIZATION OF SOLIDARITY

In the context of the new millennium, it seems everything has been said about the past, present and future of the United Nations. I will focus only on five expectations that would play a central role in any responsible vision of the Organization.

The first expectation is to give globalization a human face. The management of the irreversible process of globalization is a complex task in which the world Organization should be the main architect. Radical reform of the United Nations is unlikely in the short term. Incremental or step-by-step reforms seem to be both realistic and feasible. They can lead to a UN architecture that is reasonably flexible and adaptable to the enormous challenges of globalization with a human face, so that it benefits the greatest number of people and nations--big, medium or small. Diplomacy including citizens' diplomacy as practiced by civil society, can make an important contribution to the humanization of the process of globalization, with the high set of moral principles usually expressed in the doctrine of human rights.

The second expectation, which derives naturally from the first one, is the vital need to eradicate poverty. Globalization cannot be built on misery. Poverty and ignorance are the main enemies of progress and will affect all plans to promote globalization.

The third expectation is the universalization of democracy. No responsible political leader in the year 2000 can declare himself anti-democratic. The democratic process may be simply described to be a means of limiting the arbitrary elements of power, by guaranteeing that the politicians who claim to speak for the people must ultimately be judged by the public and be fully accountable to civil society. Good governance is an accountable governance. And one of the fundamental virtues of democracy is that, in its normal functioning, it is apt to release the energies of every human being for the benefit of all.

The Third International Conference of New or Restored Democracies, held in Bucharest, Romania from 2 to 4 September 1997, adopted a substantive set of recommendations for achieving the goals of governance and democratization. This Conference and an upcoming one in Cotonou, Benin from 4 to 6 December 2000 are important events in the collective endeavours to promote communication on and better understanding of the challenges and prospects of democratization.

The fourth expectation is the universalization...