What About Global Political Parties?

NIGD News and Notes September 2006

In this Global Political Parties special:
I. Democratic Politics Globally - Elements for a Dialogue on Global Party Formations
II. Dialogues on Party Systems and Global Democratisation
III. Strategies for global democracy: Global political parties and the global social contract
IV. A Provisional Peoples' Assembly, Fostering Global Polities
V. Rendezvous with NIGD

In April 2004, NIGD (Network Institute for Global Democratization) associates began discussing the theme of a global political party, and from that idea a project began developing with the objective to hear views on the idea of global political parties from a diverse political and social spectrum. In order to facilitate the inclusion of voices outside the world of writing, NIGD organised four dialogues to encourage discussions on political parties, democracy, and globalisation. With the realisation that the debate on global parties cannot ignore the debate on the health, the possibilities and the crisis of existing parties within their national contexts, the title “Democratic Politics Globally” is being used. The overall purpose is to contribute to the debates on the proposals for global democratisation from the concrete context of grassroots to national experience. For more information, accompanying working papers, discussion papers, and dialogues, please see NIGD´s  global-political-parties


I. Democratic Politics Globally - Elements for a Dialogue on Global Party Formations
NIGD Working Paper 1/2006
ed. Katarina Sehm Patomäki and Marko Ulvila
There is an objective need for some form of political formation to articulate, represent, communicate, and assert the ethno-political opinions of ordinary citizens in both transnational networks and formal institutions of global governance. In this working paper edited by Katarina Sehm Patomäki and Marko Ulvila the discussion on global political parties begins with the need to address the specificities of culture, economy, geography, identity, and historical experience /memory while also addressing the universality of the urge for autonomy and self-rule. The contributors address what is needed to create legitimate and democratic systems of international governance with emphasis on political parties as an instrument in the process, and the practices required in this post statist mode of governance.

NB! Please send a message to notes@nigd.org if you are interested in receiving a hard copy of this publication - orders must be placed before 6 October 2006 and are subject  to availability.

II. Dialogues on Party Systems and Global Democratisation
NIGD Working Paper 2/2006
ed. Katarina Sehm Patomäki and Marko Ulvila
Using a methodology that encourages the inclusion of diverse voices outside the world of writing as a necessary compliment to expert analysis, the central themes for this stage of the project discussions were political parties, democracy, and globalisation. The working paper edited by Katarina Sehm Patomäki and Marko Ulvila includes complete reports from the four dialogues organized by NIGD, presentations of the Party Internationals, and selected background documents. What are the links and tensions associated with the history and future of political parties, and the discourse on global governance?

III. Strategies for global democracy: Global political parties and the global social contract
by Troy Davis
The idea of a global social contract can be a powerful instrument for human progress allowing humans to reassert conscious democratic control on the globalisation process. Troy Davis explores democracy through the lens of a special sort of social contract with the optimism that it simply requires a clear mind and the will to change the world for the better to be part of a historical transformation of Humanity from a species bent on war and destruction to one fostering peace and liberty via a conscious global contract. In essence, a global social contract can be construed as a global "deal" for world citizens to solve their problems, and global political parties have a role in the practical issue of how to negotiate a global social contract.  

IV. A Provisional Peoples' Assembly, Fostering Global Polities
by Andreas Olsson
The Challenge is to promote the development of global polities that are not bound by purely arbitrary geopolitical conditions, or governed by individuals elected to national assemblies whose concern for global issues is not at the forefront. Andreas Olsson divulges a proposal called, ‘Provisional Peoples’ Assembly (PPA), which aims to promote a global polity that institutionalizes a transnational discourse between parties of similar convictions. A public discourse space for major political parties will strengthen transnational bonds between common movements forming a view of humanity as a common body with shared concerns.

V. Rendezvous with NIGD
See our Rendezvous page