The Rafael del Pino Foundation organised the Keynote Lecture "Global Governance and the Private Sector" by Sean Cleary on 4 April 2016 at 19:00.
Sean Cleary is CEO of the Center for Advanced Governance, President of Strategic Concept and Executive Vice President of the FutureWorld Foundation.
A strategic advisor to the World Economic Forum, Sean Cleary experienced the collapse of the apartheid system at first hand as a member of the Facilitating & Preparatory Committee of the South African Peace Accord and played a leading role in the Namibian independence process.
He is a member of the governing bodies of numerous international institutions, including the Global Economic Symposium, Carbon War Room, Rocky Mountain Institute, Salzburg Global Seminar and the South African Foundation for Conciliation. Between 2006 and 2010 he also chaired the Advisory Board of Abraag Capital.
Summary:
Where are the limits of collective action in the current context of complexity? Sean Cleary, CEO of the Center for Advanced Governance, President of Strategic Concept and Executive Vice President of the FutureWorld Foundation, sought to answer this question in his lecture at the Rafael del Pino Foundation on 4 April. For Cleary, human society is a complex system, incapable of being subject to managerial control, immersed in the biosphere and constantly adapting. As a result, there is a great asymmetry between the scale and depth of the global economy, the absence of an inclusive global community and the state of world politics, which is causing problems as a result of the breakdown of the transition process from the local to the global. This situation brings with it important challenges that need to be addressed at the global level, for example in relation to the environment and sustainable economic growth. In this respect, the first challenge for global governance is that almost all actors see the costs and benefits of their actions differently, except in times of crisis. There is therefore a need to manage global imbalances. Moreover, the global order is structured on Western values that are not necessarily universal. In relation to this, we have to start admitting that we live in a global and heterogeneous world, where Anglo-Saxon-style globalisation challenges other social and cultural values and provokes reactions of an ethnocentric nature. In order to adapt to this context, societies try to modify the structure of their institutions, but in doing so they lose their sense of community. The G-7, for its part, lacks the capacity to shape global politics. Political powers have tried to create global institutions, and have failed and will fail again. Moreover, the changes taking place in economic power have political consequences. Most importantly, however, at the heart of the problem of global governance lies the fact that politicians are accountable to their local constituencies, while most threats are borderless and even global, so that political leaders do not always make the right long-term decisions. To address these challenges, a system of global governance based on five pillars is needed: promoting a system of sustainable economic growth and social development; effectively reducing poverty and improving equality; addressing the sources of human, national and global vulnerabilities and promoting security; sharing norms and values that facilitate global coexistence while maintaining cultural diversity; and improving the quality of global governance and international institutions.
The Rafael del Pino Foundation is not responsible for the comments, opinions or statements made by the people who participate in its activities and which are expressed as a result of their inalienable right to freedom of expression and under their sole responsibility. The contents included in the summary of this conference, written for the Rafael del Pino Foundation by Professor Emilio González, are the result of the debates held at the meeting held for this purpose at the Foundation and are the responsibility of the authors.
The Rafael del Pino Foundation is not responsible for any comments, opinions or statements made by third parties. In this respect, the FRP is not obliged to monitor the views expressed by such third parties who participate in its activities and which are expressed as a result of their inalienable right to freedom of expression and under their own responsibility. The contents included in the summary of this conference, written for the Rafael del Pino Foundation by Professor Emilio J. González, are the result of the discussions that took place during the conference organised for this purpose at the Foundation and are the sole responsibility of its authors.
