GlobalDecisionMaking
This Wiki page will try to make a collaborative effort on writing about Global Decision Making, it is linked to GlobalVote which is an innovative, internet-based democratic tool that enhances democracy through shadow voting and polling systems (TheGlobalVote.org). GlobalVote takes advantage of the global link provided by the internet, establishing a fair and proper voting system for assessing global public opinion.
Contents
Introduction
Globalization has expanded the international community and increasingly localized world issues. As a result, a global citizenship has emerged which warrants global responsibility to enhance democracy across borders.
Since the beginning of the 20th century, the world has experienced profound changes on many different levels, yet its power structures have remained unchallenged. Indeed, the heirs of World War II continue to determine international policies that affect the entire world, despite the dynamic changes that have occurred over the last 60 years. Today’s representatives are elected under flawed voting systems which are not as transparent as many people assume. Accountability often takes a back seat, and key institutions fail to equally represent women, youth and marginalized ethnic and/or geographic groups, even though these organizations initiate changes that dramatically affect these forgotten constituents.
In today’s world, information can be shared in milli-seconds from every corner of the world, and democratic innovations can be pursued on a global scale. Yet world wide opinion has never been captured in a systematic way. Indeed, major International Organizations have not been able to observe how an idealized democracy would actually operate, one which would also enable world citizens to equally vote on the same global issues and resolutions as their state representatives. GlobalVote aims to bridge that gap. GlobalVote is an innovative, internet-based democratic tool that aims to enhance democracy through shadow voting and polling systems. What is unique about GlobalVote is that it enables world citizens to register their opinions and vote on the same resolutions being considered by the UN, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization (among others). We consider that an alternative democratic system like GlobalVote can be a tool to channel the opinions of a diverse, international community, which International Organizations have been unable to record to this day..
GlobalVote can become a valuable resource for global organizations, as well as NGO’s, the media, and national governments. GlobalVote will present results in an official memoranda to the United Nations (UN) Secretary General and to other prominent decision makers in the diplomatic world. GlobalVote is an initiative of the non-governmental organization Globalhood, which creates in house initiatives (including GlobalVote) with a multidisciplinary focus.
How Does GlobalVote Work?
National parliaments consisting of 100 members each will be created for the UN’s 192 member states, creating a voting community of 19,200 people. Enrollment is through the GlobalVote website, VirtualWorldParliament.org. Anyone can enroll in the parliament of his or her nationality, but membership for the first 100 participants is determined on a representational basis that takes into consideration age, gender, education, religion and residence. These 100 voters will take their seats as parliament members in their respective parliaments. General voters (the voters more then 100 per country) produce a non-representational set of data that serves our voting scenarios and analysis to an equal degree.
Voting statistics will be available for every level: global, national, and individual. Similarly, disaggregated voting records according to gender, educational level, profession, religion, and age will be free and openly available. Voting record analysis will be available in graphs, tables, trend lines, and other statistical information. GlobalVote will also offer voting scenarios that are unique to global research organizations. The default voting scenario is one country one vote, with 51% counting as a majority. Other voting scenarios reflect UN veto policies (with the world’s most powerful countries possessing veto power as a majority), the global popular vote (a majority of world votes), the global weighted vote (extrapolate population per country), and other scenarios which grant more voting power to under developed countries and/or to the female population.
GlobalVote promotes transparent voting on every level. the idea of GlobalVote is to disseminate the type of global opinion data that is not offered by the UN and international decision makers, which conduct opaque voting processes, often behind closed doors.
The GlobalVote parliament will preserve the integrity of an individual’s vote by refusing to recognize official political parties, lobbyists, or the interests of major corporations.
What you can do to help
You can help to raise new members for this site. Mail people you know to be interested. Maybe you can put a poster at your office or university (if pdf of a poster would be added to this side by the webmasters?).
- I could easily add a PDF - please contact me. ~~ MarkDilley | talk
Why GlobalVote is Needed
We acknowledge that there are several organizations which at first glance may resemble the work of GlobalVote i.e. the Federalist Movement, UN reform initiatives and many think tanks. GlobalVote shares these organizations conviction that the current international voting and decision-making processes should be reassessed; however, GlobalVote distinguishes itself by its ability to capture and document global citizen opinions which would otherwise remain private discourse. There is yet to be a major online polling initiative devoted to collecting global opinion in this way, which is certain to fuel the debate on the global decision making process.
Audio visual information
http://www.law.widener.edu/envisioning/
