Attention World Treaty!

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Global problem areas such as world trade, climate change and social injustice no longer remain uncontrolled. Institutions, regulatory systems and contracts for the various fields of global problem solving are increasingly developing into a system of “global governance”.

However, global governance lacks the characteristics of traditional democratic rule. Although it is politicians who decide on regimes as guard rails for the further course of globalization, the subject area is hardly noticed by the public. Despite a growing awareness of globalization issues, the public remains largely uninformed and uninvolved in the concrete decision-making process for shaping key globalization processes.

The "Attention World Contract!" project aims, in a first step, to make processes of globalization decisions visible and thus stimulate a public discussion about these processes. In a further step, suggestions for solutions can also be offered and thus concrete impulses given. The project is scalable in several respects: The number of "advertised" decision-making processes can vary, as can the depth of the actual substantive discussion of the topic. The project can also be aimed at a German (German-speaking) or international target group. 

1. Decision-making processes:

  • From the multitude of decision-making processes in various fields of globalization, those are selected to which the project participants have the closest content/practical links. The UNFCCC climate conference in Durban, South Africa, can serve as a first example for 2011.
  • In the future, an overview of global decision-making processes can be created and made accessible. The overview serves as a basis for selecting processes that will be dealt with in more detail later in the project.

2. Background information and analyses:

  • In advance of decision-making processes, background information and analyses on the respective decision-making process are compiled and made available. The level of information offered is target group-specific. In order to use existing information channels, children can be selected as the target group. In order to be able to offer information beyond one's own knowledge of the content, respected external experts on the respective global treaty process are brought in.
  • In a further project step, questions could be formulated publicly that highlight crucial characteristics of a good problem solution.

3. (Own) solution suggestions:

  • In a further project step, questions could be formulated publicly that make clear the key characteristics of a good problem solution. Finally, as a further step in the content, proposed solutions for decision-making processes could be incorporated into the public discourse.
  • Further work is preceded by a substantive discussion of the respective negotiation process from the perspective of a “world contract”. This discussion could take the form of one’s own work, including supervised theses. If necessary, external experts could also be brought in to analyse solutions according to a world contract scheme.

The project uses, among other things, existing information and communication technologies (e.g. press, website, blog, calendar) to reach the already interested audience as well as the general public.

What already exists, for example:

  • What already exists, for example: 1000 Questions (Aktion Sorgenkind, discussion on bioethics)
  • “Policy papers” of civil society initiatives in the Anglo-American world (e.g. Oxfam, CAFOD; in Great Britain, USA, India, Bangladesh).

The Respect World Treaty project was carried out between 2001 and 2011.