Chinese Scholars View the World (Global Governance Volume)

Author: Wang Jisi, Chief Editor; Pang Zhongying, Sub-series Editor
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-01-01
Features: Globalization not only connects and influences countries and societies, even leading to "interdependence," but also gives rise to various highly complex global issues. The relationships between nations are becoming increasingly intricate, and interactions among non-state actors and between state and non-state actors are intensifying. The rise and accumulation of global issues have made the "international governance" (internationalgovernance) since 1945 flawed and inadequate, while "global governance" (globalgovernance) has become increasingly necessary and urgent. Globalization and global issues are the fundamental basis for global governance. Global governance is one of the strongest political calls in the world today. Without the existence of globalization and global issues, it is difficult to even speak of global governance. The proposal and development of the concept and theory of global governance pose a significant challenge to traditional international relations theory. Traditional international relations theory, which primarily originated and developed in the West, views the "domestic society" and "international society" as clearly distinct, but global governance theorists do not hold this view. The theory of global governance attempts to explore how to treat the world—a globalized world—as a collective entity for joint governance, i.e., as a "social-world" to be governed. As mentioned earlier, many proponents of global governance repeatedly emphasize that it is not the concept of a "world government" (world state) proposed by earlier thinkers with profound awareness of the times and a sense of the future, i.e., it is not an exclusive intergovernmental relationship. Western proponents of global governance often focus on and discuss not the relationship between governments, i.e., the role of traditional states in global governance, but rather non-governmental organizations (NGOs), multinational corporations (MNCs), citizen movements or civil society, global mass media, and even the global capital market, i.e., the role of these non-governmental forces in global governance. Global governance cannot be said to have only been proposed as a political goal in the late 20th century. As early as the late 19th century or even earlier, global governance (not necessarily using the term "global governance") already had such ideas and practices. It became one of the choices for managing international relations (international relations management) at the time. After World War II, German politician Willy Brandt (who served as Chancellor of West Germany from 1969 to 1974) was the first to propose this concept. He referred to the establishment and development of multilateral rules and management systems to promote global interdependence and sustainable development.