STWR - Share The World's Resources

Poor countries have fought hard for a UN summit on the financial crisis but rich countries prefer to control the world economy as the exclusive G8. It is no surprise that the UN fails to play an effective role in global governance when the richest countries prevent it from doing so, argues Nick Dearden.

Diplomats, NGOs and business groups met at the United Nations in May 2009 for the highest level forum on Sustainable Development. But what is the history of the Commission on Sustainable Development, and what is this forum designed to achieve? A backgrounder by STWR.

The G20 summit has provoked a mass mobilisation of campaigners for global justice, whose emerging coalitions may play a key role in shaping the politics of the post-crisis era. Some leading figures make their case.

Northern governments are responding to the economic slowdown by reviving the same 'fossilized institutions' that underpin the financial crisis. The G20 should abandon old ways of global governance and put in their place a more decentralized, democratic order, says Walden Bello.

Large NGO groups in the North often follow the tradition of Victorian philanthropy in their calls for charitable aid to the Global South. A better solution would be one of solidarity and the incorporation of Southern social movements into our calls for change, says James O’Nions.

Recession, unemployment and foreclosures represent only the surface level of a deepening global financial crisis. Now, the rise of ethnic strife and civil unrest could characterise a year of social conflict in 2009, says Michael T. Klare. 

As the ninth World Social Forum (WSF) came to a close last week in the Amazon basin, the simultaneous meeting of select business leaders and policymakers at the exclusive ski-resort of Davos, Switzerland, provided a sharp contrast between a spirit of vibrant public engagement and the mood of depression at the World Economic Forum.