The mother of all questions: how to reform global governance?

This paper gathers some ideas together and proposes a draft general framework for reform of the United Nations.

The paper argues that, in addition to the current three major objectives (peace and security; development and aid; freedom and human rights) a reformed UN may be assigned three further objectives, already within the UN domain of interest, but deserving to be institutionalised:

• the preservation of the environment and of energy for current and future generations
• the definition and enforcement of regulations within borderless, currently poorly-regulated social, economic and scientific arenas (privacy, copyright, and the internet have recently revealed this need)
• the promotion of research projects whose optimal scale is worldwide (for instance, biotechnology to improve food production for the many, or the development of drugs like Aids-related vaccines that may not be sustainable from a short-term profit point of view)

More importantly, the paper states that the new UN should clarify how seriously its stakeholders want it to drive forward such objectives. This is both a question of definition and of the necessary mechanisms.

Potential areas of redesign include:

• merging institutions with similar goals, such as the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Food Programme(WFP)
• a more rational global governance framework would require vastly improved coordination between the World Bank and IMF
• clarifying the relationships between policies. It should be clearly stated that: “Wherever a shareholder is recognised by the UN as in breach of its obligations towards other stakeholders’ security or its own citizens’ freedom, support for development will immediately stop, being replaced, as and when required, by humanitarian aid provided directly to that country’s citizens without interference from the aforementioned government.”
• from such a principle a number of systematic decisions would then follow. Many UN activities will in fact be performed by single national governments (such as the enforcement of UN regulations on single individuals or organisations). But the UN will have to have in place a more systematic mechanism which will ensure single shareholders’ collaboration
• preceding the launch would have to be a “business plan” clarifying the range of likely activities to be performed, and its resulting financial needs. Necessary resources would be allocated according to economic criteria, and raised according to each country’s financial capacity as a percentage of its GDP (debt-burdened countries may even be exempt). A sort of initial public offering will have to take place, in which only those countries which have unwritten their obligations are admitted as founding members of the new UN