Globalisation and Development:
Recent Debates and Policies
Protect the Future!
Protect the Future!
Eco-politics: radical democracy and participationsocial justice and solidarityenvironmentfuture generations
Founded in 2000, working with 30 committed activists and staff, and 700 registered supporters Védegylet is…
…a grassroot organisation
…a think-tank
… a ‘party’?
Activities• REFUGE: legal assistance and campaigning for
preserving local environmental and cultural heritage
• Ombudsman for Future Generations – and for Europe!
• Policy proposals, lobbying and campaigning: forestry, agriculture, public services, climate policy
• Awareness raising, public education: publications, conferences, debates, films, festivals
• Supporting alternatives, demonstration projects: Fair Trade, organic farming, participative governance
Alterglob Working GroupGlobalisation: not anti, but critical!• Understanding globalisation: publications,
conferences, festivals• GATS (General Agreement on Trade in Services):
position papers, lobbying• GATS-free zones in Hungary • Public services on the market: research and
publications• Trade policy and fair trade
The project: Capacity building for NGOs & local grass-roots organisations in the Czech Republic and Hungary
to raise awareness in development issues.
Building capacity for Glopolis (CS) and Védegylet (HU) and their local partners to develop a coherent strategy of awareness raising and knowledge, skills & techniques for agenda setting & influencing public opinion.
Organisations involved in the project: • Weltwirtschaft, Ökologie & Entwicklung - WEED,
Germany (lead org.) • Védegylet Egyesület (“Protect the Future”), Hungary
(consortium member)• 3. Prague Global Policy Institute - Glopolis, Czech
Republic
Activities:• Course• Research• Publication• CampaigningThe course:The course beginning in Autumn, 2007 aims at giving an
introduction to:• development theories• development policies• international development institutions• meanings of sustainability • indicators of development• major North-South/development-related issues, such
as trade, debt, aid, investment and finance, etc.
Development in CEEDev is reduced to its economic meaning.• Regime change was accompanied by a deep economic
depression.• Social dev has been relatively high in CEE (‘primature born
welfare state’), • Regime change led to political dev• Environmental quality have improved. However:• Economic growth of the past decade has not been able to
reduce social inequalities, on the contrary.• New ecological problems (climate change)• Formal democracy.There is a need to redefine development.
Development in CEEThere is a lack of global solidarity and global
consciousness in CEE countries.• No colonial past: no feeling of responisibility or guilt
towards poor countries.• ‘Communist solidarity’ devaluated the meaning of
international solidarity, global responisbility.• Lack of knowledge about the ‘3rd world’.• Self-pity and self-centred thinking.However:• We are part of the developed world (OECD, EU)• Globalisation brings somehow similar challenges
everywhere.There is a need to (re)invent our place, our role in global
development.
Development in CEE: questions to be answered
• How far is the crisis of development obvious for people in CEE countries? Is there a crisis anyway? Why (not)?
• Is there any chance for CEE to find its own development path under the conditions of globalisation?
• If so, what would be this path? Are there any dev alternatives present here?
• Who would be the main change agents in this respect? Civil society organisations? Others? What is the relation between them (us)?
• How can we link our dev problems to global challenges? What kind of dev discourse would best fit our cultural and political legacy?
• What are the similarities between our problems and the ‘3rd world’?
• What role could CEE countries play in global dev?