Monterrey Manifesto

– Towards a Participatory Institutional Ecology of Network Society –

Where we are:

Challenge
In 2002 the governments of the world came together in Monterrey and developed the ‘Monterrey Consensus’ which is an agreement on the financing of the Millennium Development Goals. These Millennium Development Goals were developed by nation states for nation states. But today, global problems and global interconnectedness are challenging us to reflect on how we govern life in all domains, not as nation states but as human beings, collectives and populations. The challenge lies in devising legitimate systems of global governance powerful enough to tackle the problems at hand to implement global solutions. We have an opportunity and a responsibility to act upon this challenge.

Transformation
We are undergoing radical changes in our lifeworld and natural environments. The change from a society build upon the metaphor of an original contract among property owners to a society understood through the metaphor of the network, fundamentally changes the logics of our interactions on all levels of society.

Technology and Competence
The inherently egalitarian nature of ‘peer to peer’ (P2P) participation in our globalized world is essentially premised on new technologies. The essential challenge lies in using these as technologies of access, and to prevent them from being used as technologies of control, so as to empower stakeholders* (The affected and the interested). Technology gives birth to a new virtual public sphere, which can foster reflexive self-perception and an participatory* approach to life. To realize this inherent potential, and to improve the human condition through e-governance* in particular, new modes of thinking*, collaboration*, as well as collective learning are necessary.

Where to go:

Governance
The concept of governance implies a shift from the partial perspectives of disciplines to a joint meta-perspective. In governance we discuss how our institutional ecology can be or should be governed: what is the role of governments, civic associations, and the private sector in creating economic, social, political, and inter-collective public goods?

For global governance to be effective, it must not be subordinate to any particular interest. Global governance therefore has to include all spheres of global policy making, such as world trade, world currency and banking institutions, global environmental and social standards, international justice and global security.

Responsibility and Action
In order to take informed decisions on what opportunities to participate we realize, institutional transparency and clear policies that empower the stakeholders but also holds them responsibility for their actions. The Monterrey Forum has provided a platform to frame this agenda. The questions that need to be addressed are: How can all of us transform the conception of public values within the new institutional ecologies. What is the role of new technologies? What are changing legitimizing practices? What do we need to know to act ?

These are battles happening in the real world, with real consequences for the politics of our worlds, because decisions made today will outline the conditions of possible public value creation tomorrow.

This manifesto was co-authored on the occasion of the **UNESCO Monterrey Forum 2007** by:

  • Philipp Mueller (EGAP, Monterrey campus)
  • Max Senges (Open University of Catalonia)
  • Georg Zoche (United Transnational Republics)
  • Isidro Morales (EGAP, Monterrey campus)

Please feel free to enter the debate and change, add, edit and sign this manifesto.

This manifesto was originally hosted at http://governability.wikispaces.com/Monterrey+Manifesto

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