EG004POL.TXT

Problem: Globalization seems to be leading to political apathy.

Solution: We should respect and maintain cultural diversity of peoples. Unity in diversity rather than uniformity must be promoted.

"Globalization and Democracy: Market, State and Society"
Héctor Ricardo Leis, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil.

Rather than leading to an integrated world society, globalization, spurred by the expansion of the international market is shaping a fragmented global community. In fact, the globalization process seems to be leading to political apathy among most of the world's population and to its manipulation by the tecnical-bureaucratic-business elite. This poses the need to create transnational public space that will make possible the democratization of international relations and the construction of firm bases for global governance. In order to achieve that public space we should not encourage the global dominance of any model or vision of reality; on the contrary we must make the existing cultural diversity and political and economic options available to everyone. The humanity should not assume the demand for diversity over unity, but rather seeks to establish an order for the double movement of decentralization and unification of society. Diversity and unity are ensured through the fertile potential of global interaction. This establishes no conflict between the new and the old, nor does it give priority to change or conservation. On the contrary, it gives priority to cooperation among diverse sectors of society and to continuation between the past and the future.

Resume: Héctor R. Leis is a political scientist working on Brazilian and international environmental politics. He has a Ph.D. in political philosophy from the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro. He is a professor in the Department of Social Sciences at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil.