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A Middle Way for Govern- Ance

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A Middle Way for Govern- Ance Nicolas Berggruen and Nathan Gardels New times require new methods of gover- nance, and our own troubled era is no excep- tion. The great economic and technological A convergence that is the consequence of “Glo- balization 1.0” has also given birth to a new cultural divergence: the wealthier emerging MIDDLE powers are asserting their individual cultural norms, looking to their respective histori- cal foundations as they define themselves against the waning hegemony of the West. If WAY “Globalization 2.0” is to be successful, it must accommodate both greater interdependence and greater pluralism. Unfortunately, none of the existing gov- FOR ernance models, including Western liberal democracy, is adequate to the task of ensuring a peaceful and prosperous Globalization 2.0. GOVERN- Our world today requires levels of techni- cal expertise, long-term planning, legal and regulatory consensus, and cosmopolitanism that are not consistent with nation-based de- ANCE mocracy as currently practiced in the United States and elsewhere. At the same time, the Western governance has transparency and accountability emerging neo-Confucian mandarinate of but lacks continuity. Eastern governance has long-term China, and some similar state-dominated discipline but lacks public participation. Each can improve models, cannot hope to remain stable—or to by learning from the other. lend stability to the developing global order— without finding ways to attract and channel the free consent of the governed, who increas- ingly are demanding the dignity of meaning- ful participation. We need, in short, to find a middle way, both in theory and in practice. Globalization 2.0 means, above all, the interdependence of plural identities instead of one model for all. The once regnant Western liberal democracies must now contend on NICOLAS BERGGRUEN is the founder and president the world stage not only with neo-Confucian of Berggruen Holdings, a private investment company, China but also with Turkey’s model of an and the Nicolas Berggruen Institute, a think tank devoted to addressing governance issues; NATHAN Islamic-oriented democracy with a secular GARDELS is a senior adviser to the Nicolas Berggruen frame, a model that has been a beacon for Institute and is the editor of New Perspectives the newly liberated Arab street. Historically, Quarterly. He has been a media fellow of the World a power shift of this magnitude often ends in Economic Forum since 1986. Berggruen and Gardels collision and conflict. But given the intensive are coauthors of Intelligent Governance for the 21st Century: A Middle Way Between West and East, integration that the post–Cold War round of forthcoming from Polity Press. globalization has wrought, this power shift GOVERNMENT DESIGNED FOR NEW TIMES 1 UNDERSTANDING GOVERNMENT IN NEW TIMES MORE SEATS also presents entirely new possibilities for power and involves citizens in a meaning- AT THE TABLE cooperation and cross-pollination across a ful fashion while fostering legitimacy and The G-20 brings a diverse group plural cultural landscape. consent for delegated authority at higher of cultures, We are thus at a historical crossroads. How levels of complexity. Devolving, involving, economies, and we govern ourselves in the coming decades and decision division are the key elements of political systems within and among nations will determine the intelligent governance. These are the factors to bear on the shape of the 21st century. that can reconcile knowledgeable democracy world’s problems. Much hangs on our ability to balance with accountable meritocracy. the need to recognize and respect distinct Striving for intelligent governance does not cultures and the need to embrace intense mean imposing a one-size-fits-all template. global interdependence, all while responding Different political systems are at differ- to the demands for greater participation in ent starting points, and each must reboot the political process. Our ability to manage according to its own cultural preferences those conflicting needs will make the differ- and needs. While China needs more citizen ence between dynamic and stalled societies participation and meritocratic accountability S E G and determine whether clash or cooperation to achieve balance, the United States needs to MA I emerges as the global modus operandi. depoliticize its democracy, finding a system Y That balance might be called “intelligent in which governance for the long term and /GETT AFP governance,” a middle way that devolves the common good is insulated from short- © 2 GOVERNMENT DESIGNED FOR NEW TIMES term populism and a special-interest political Striving for intelligent governance culture. China needs to lighten up, while the United States must tighten up. In Europe, does not mean imposing the institutional infrastructure necessary to a one-size-fits-all template. complete integration—a strong but lim- ited political union—must be invested with democratic legitimacy, or it will fail to attract the allegiance of European citizens over the revealed its main objective: to introduce a medium or long term. depoliticized, nonpartisan, and long-term At the global level, the Group of 20—the agenda as a corrective to the partisan rancor main mechanism of adjustment for the global and short-term, special-interest political power shift currently under way—must be culture that has come to dominate California’s invested with legitimacy by nations and their political life. The Think Long Committee’s publics. Otherwise, it will never acquire the “blueprint to renew California,” introduced political capacity to provide the global public in a report published in 2011, seeks to install goods—a reserve currency, stable trade and a new civic software. Recommendations financial flows, security, nuclear nonprolif- include incorporating commonsense prac- eration, and a united front against climate tices such as a “rainy day” reserve fund and change—that no one hegemonic state or club multiyear budgeting; instituting two-year leg- of states can provide in the plural world of islative sessions, with one year dedicated to Globalization 2.0. oversight; aligning the skills and educational In our own work, through the Nicolas Berg- outcomes of California’s educational institu- gruen Institute and its associated councils, tions with the needs of the state’s cutting-edge we have focused on California, the Group technology industry; and speeding up regula- of 20, and the European Union, all settings tory approval to foster job creation. Many of where the problems are acknowledged and these initiatives will be put before the public the desire for solutions is shared, but the for a vote in statewide referenda, beginning in existing governance structures are inadequate November 2012. to the tasks. The Group of 20, in which Europe, Japan, Californian voters, beginning in 2005, and the United States—the old G-7—are responded to partisan paralysis in the legisla- joined by Brazil, China, India, Mexico, South ture by voting for open primaries, redistrict- Africa, Turkey, and others, is, in effect, the ing by citizen commission, and the use of a mechanism of adjustment from Globalization simple majority vote on budgets. We initially 1.0 to 2.0. The advanced economies of the old sought to extend this movement through the G-7 are unable to provide global public goods Think Long Committee, founded in 2010. such as open trade, stable financial flows, and This was a high-powered group of eminent a global reserve currency, while the emerging citizens with broad experience in public af- economies, with China in the lead, are not yet fairs, labor, and business. At our first meeting able to do so. Moreover, unlike the G-7, the (at Google headquarters), Arnold Schwar- G-20 brings together a broad mix of cultures zenegger, California’s governor at the time, and economic and political systems. Figuring shared the table with Gray Davis, the gov- out how to govern these new, interdependent ernor he had ousted. Soon Jerry Brown, the plural identities, in which economic con- state’s current governor, was working with vergence and cultural divergence are taking the committee as well. The name of the group place simultaneously, is an unprecedented GOVERNMENT DESIGNED FOR NEW TIMES 3 UNDERSTANDING GOVERNMENT IN NEW TIMES challenge. To help meet this challenge, we political figures to debate and design the in- formed a council of former world leaders stitutions that would govern a federal Europe from advanced and developing countries, top and then plot a way forward. The technocratic thinkers, and technologically savvy “disrupt- management of the euro must be comple- ers.” This group has focused on debating mented by political reform that brings demo- issues of global governance and offering its cratic engagement at the Europe-wide level, best counsel to current heads of state—nota- rather than relegating it to nations. As Martin bly a given year’s president of the G-20. It also Sandbu recently put it in the Financial Times, operates as a bridge between Asian, particu- “In Europe, national self-determination can larly Chinese, governing elites and those in no longer trump democracy.” the West, hoping to ease the transition to an Our efforts are at least as much tactical interdependent world from one held together as strategic, seeking to alter by degrees the by Western dominance. Such broadened public debates and private political discus- political participation can help ensure that the sions that are gradually shaping our future, provision of global public goods will not fall while keeping our eyes firmly on the long victim to national (and nationalist) rivalries. term. A certain modesty is required, as the In a sense, Europe faces the same set of stability and prosperity of an interdependent challenges as the G-20: how to share sover- world will never be secured by intellectual eignty in a way that also promotes national dominance—or any other sort of dominance. well-being in the long term—notably by The conundrum of interdependence without a providing Europe-wide public goods—and common identity cannot really be solved.
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