Zukunftszeugen V - Michael Zuern Index Interview Transcript 1 Transcript 2

				2. "Societal Multilateralism" as an Answer to Current Trends In the conference you mentioned the expression "societal multilateralism." Could you explain more in detail what that means? This actually refers to this second challenge. If we say - and there are very good reasons to say this - that many international institutions that were founded after World War II - the Bretton Woods Institutions for example - were quite successful, were quite effective in managing the interdependence problems in the Western world . They were still built mainly on intergovernmental agreements, mainly discussions and agreements between executives that were working on the intergovernmental level. In order to increase democratic legitimacy and the social acceptance of these institutions it is necessary to bring also society into those processes. And that means that we have to move away from the executive multilateralism to a multilateralism that brings in society, that shows, that shows in a transparent way what is done in these institutions and gives the societal actors a chance to participate in the decision making Do you see this realized in some parts, somewhere? It is a long way, and the fundamental problem is, that the social-cultural prerequisites for organizing a political community democratically are to a large extent missing on a transnational level. That is the fundamental problem and therefore, it can only be a regulative idea to say: "We have to move towards societal multilateralism." However, I do have the feeling that some decision makers realize that even international institutions need to be founded stronger on legitimacy in order to be effective. After the - for many politicians traumatic - Seattle experience, after some problems with environmental conferences that were not very effective, I do have the feeling, that at least some decision makers realize that there is a need to reform international institutions in a way. And that may be a chance to do it. TOP
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