Human Values of Global Governance

Ubuntu is a popular African word that talks about human compassion and humanity toward others. Simply put ‘I am because we are,’ it is the believe in universal bonds that connect humanity. Why this Ubuntu philosophy? It is because the world, is connected by common principles, ideologies, economies and most importantly shared humanity, despite some differences, divisions and extremism. Shared human values will be used, as a factor for governance, especially global governance and why we need more governance, with the sole purpose of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) people from atrocity crimes.

First, let’s define some basic terms like polarization and governance in global context.

Polarization is an intense commitment to an individual, a group, a culture, or an ideology that sets people in one group apart from another group, whereas, global governance is the way global affairs are managed. Global governance here refers to the UN and its agencies, interstate bilateral agreements, regional groups, both local and international NGOs.

The focus here is on the increasing global governance in the face of extremist ideologies and polarization and how this can be used for the collective good of all, without erasing national or local sovereignties, identities and cultures.

First, no single nation has all the resources to fight global problems plaguing humanity and the planet. These problems span from arms conflict, poverty, malnutrition, diseases, climate change, disaster risk, drug trafficking, organized crime, and to terrorism etc. These problems (like Zika, Ebola, global warming or retreating glaciers etc.) do not recognize political boundaries and can only be better combatted through a collective and transnational governance effort.

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In an interview with a vast array of both civil actors and politicians, Benner et al discovered that; all participants agreed that the protection of populations from atrocity crimes is an international responsibility and people are ready to support and contribute to what is seen as vital to protect populations from atrocity crimes.

Secondly, increased economic cooperation and governance will help heavily indebted poor countries and try to narrow the gap in world economies while also making the weaker states like Somalia, South Sudan, Georgia etc. to become economically autonomous. Through globalization, the world has become interconnected. International travel is easy and cheapest and so people easily crisscross the globe and get integrated to other communities or export their cultures and equally trade. Through the internet and other international exchange programs, inter and transnational friendship and cooperation is also increasing, thereby alleviating poverty while generating revenue for nation states.

Rodrik supports this when he says: “the purpose of international economic negotiations should be to increase domestic policy autonomy, while being mindful of the possible harm to trade partners. The world’s trade regime is driven by a mercantilist logic: You lower your barriers in return for my lowering mine.” It is worth noting that if there is increased governance, member states will be opened to democratic policies and changes that will be mutually beneficial. Furthermore, another reason will be political or military. With an increased global governance, wealthiest and powerful nations will lead and maintain control over international decision-making and peace-keeping because some weak national or local governments do fail to protect their citizens, especially from rebels, terrorists, local militias and neighboring states.

An increased global government will be necessary here because internal policies of one nation can affect the whole region or her neighbors. So, wealthiest and powerful nations must step up and contribute to resolve conflicts that may result in mass murders, genocide, human rights abuses, and global conflagration. Fedorak opines that: “The United Nations is charged with monitoring political developments, peacekeeping, and peacebuilding on a global scale.”  He also points out that despite the shortcomings of peacebuilding like lack of funding, personnel, and equipment, there had been success in nations like East Timor and Liberia, albeit the fact that they did not attract media attention.

On the contrary, this polarized atmosphere, socio-political issues are a threat to increased global governance and is magnified by nationalists. They give reasons such as powerful nations make decisions without the contribution of poorer or weaker states, civil groups. They also argue that military interventions cause war, and poverty, leading to inequality, mass migrations, refugee crisis and destabilized economies. However, for humanity sake, it is worthwhile to recommend ways for increased governance and these include a proactive deployment of civil society professionals and experts to regions at the beginning of each issue (political, economic, health and social) to be able to assess the crisis at its early stage so the local government, with the global community can help stop or prevent it.

From Karol Boudreaux’s introduction, the global community, like the case of Rwanda, always intervene in conflict regions when the crisis has already spiraled out of hand and they are dealing with the consequences. Also, increased governance means making more economic decisions, more humanitarian decisions; through peace accords, bilateral agreements, an engaged civil society, and economic treaties between states for the benefit of all states involved. The adage “No one man or nation is an island,” proves humanitarianism and alliances can be effective from WW1 to the Cold War and the outbreak of diseases and natural disasters from Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East to the Americas.