The Chronicle Library Shelf.

• Author: Pianta, Mario
• Position: The United Nations and Civil Society: Legitimating Global Governance - Whose Voice? - Book review

THE UNITED NATIONS AND CIVIL SOCIETY. LEGITIMATING GLOBAL GOVERNANCE-WHOSE VOICE?

By Nora McKeon

Zed Books, London and New York, 2009 pp. 243, $30.96

Can voices of people belonging to grassroot organizations be heard in global policy making? How can thousands of people's organizations from around the world set up networks, deliberate on shared values and common actions, generate a democratic process without formal mechanisms of representation, and interact effectively with the United Nations? The answer--in the case of food security--is in this excellent book by Nora McKeon, a scholar, activist, and insider who has been involved with the Food and Agriculture Organization's relations with civil society.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Following a detailed reconstruction of experiences in UN-civil society relations, the book shows how a variety of activist voices--non-governmental organizations at first, later peasant's organizations--have obtained a role in decision-making on global food issues. Over the past decade, people's organizations have developed a capacity to act as legitimate players in global institutions without being co-opted. They integrate protest with an ability to affect policy outcomes. As a result, the concepts of the right to food, food sovereignty, and agroecology...