Theme Resolution:
Globalisation and the Future of the Nation-State as it was adopted by the congress.
Liberal International stresses that globalisation entails more than the worldwide exchange of goods, services, capital and information. This worldwide exchange could never have developed, had the markets remained closed. The opening up of markets spread all over the world once communism and economic planification were widely seen to have failed to bring prosperity, equality and freedom.
Growing economic and commercial liberalisation holds the possibility for citizens to improve their lives by their own initiatives. In order to secure this, the process of economic and commercial globalisation must however be accompanied by a parallel development of political democratisation.
The growing recognition of the universality of Human Rights, the emergence of the notion of crimes against Humanity, the setting up of International Criminal Courts, the agreement on a Permanent Criminal Court, all effectively curtail the principle of non-interference. State sovereignty no longer is a passport for state violence against citizens. Impunity from crimes committed under cover of state authority seems to be coming to an end.
Liberal International has from the start supported these evolutions and will continue to do so. Liberal International especially welcomes the growing recognition that individual human beings are subjects of international law.
Liberal International recognises that UN peacekeeping operations constitute an important element of global crisis management and that they have in a number of cases contributed to stabilising crisis situations. Therefore Liberal International supports the ongoing reform of the UN and the so-called UN standby arrangement in particular.
Liberal International notes with satisfaction that there seems to be a growing awareness both in the US Congress and the US administration of the importance of the UN as a guardian of international stability, and welcomes the decision of Congress to pay its UN dues for the current year. Liberal International calls upon the United States to pay all other outstanding arrears to the United Nations Organisation.
Liberal International deplores that no progress has been made as regards the composition of the UN-Security Council.
The United Nations Organisation has served humanity well since its foundation half a century ago: it was and still is the only truly global political forum. It survived the Cold War, it adapted itself to the emergence of many new states born out of decolonization, it adjusted itself to entirely new concerns like the environment and the demographic evolution. It is far from perfect, but irreplaceable.
Liberal International does not hold the view that the UNO should evolve into a supranational world governing institution.
Liberal International welcomes the continuing development/evolution of accountable, regionally based organisations particularly recognising the value of institutions like the European Union. Globalisation has been made possible by free market ideology, first in western societies, and then in most other societies.
Liberal International firmly supports this evolution, as the free market ideology is based upon the recognition that the end result of the free initiatives of the many is superior to the plans devised by the few, and as a free market is ideally based upon free exchanges between equals.
Market freedom, however, must not be confused with anarchy or lawlessness; nor is market freedom an end in itself.
It is necessary to safeguard against the danger of increasing the existing large gap between those who benefit from the globalisation of the free market ideology and those whose disadvantaged starting position is further weakened.
The IMF and the World Bank negotiate with governments which should be accountable to the elected representatives of their populations. Governments negotiate WTO agreements; chiefs of governments convene in the G7; they too should be accountable to their legislatures and to their electorates. Liberal International considers that the solution resides in the further democratisation of the states themselves. This presupposes that parliaments are sufficiently independent and autonomous to hold their executives to account and that they are sufficiently informed on the terms of negotiations and on the issues at stake to pass an informed judgement on the final agreements.
While Liberal International very much believes in the virtues of free trade and market freedom, it does not consider that the IMF and World Bank recipes are above scrutiny and criticism.
Liberal International believes that global economic institutions have paid insufficient attention to the political social and societal conditions existing in the nations whose economies they are called in to rescue.
Liberal International considers that the inability of the global economic institutions to come up with satisfactory formulas for debt relief weakens both their global credibility and effectiveness. The credibility and effectiveness of international political action is equally affected by the absence of any satisfying political solution to the burden of accumulated state debts.
Liberal International believes that more openness on the terms of reference, more readiness to listen to criticisms and to address them would increase the effectiveness of the global and international economic institutions and organisations.
Liberal International considers that negotiations on issues concerning all nations of the world should not be conducted in fora from which most of these nations are excluded.
Liberal International underlines that absence of oversight and accountability deprives citizens of the possibility to sanction ineffective and unethical private and public governance and conduct, and that absence of political democracy deprives citizens of the possibility to peacefully remove their political leaders from office. Liberal International stresses that the combination of all of these elements inevitably leads to ineffectiveness, arbitrariness and corruption; vitiates economic, political and civic life and hampers all forms of development. Liberal International also stresses that such developments invariably hit the poorest and weakest the hardest.
Liberal International stresses that the most strident attacks against ‘American and/or Western Cultural Imperialism’, and the fiercest pleas for ‘national values’, often come from political, religious and intellectual authorities unwilling to relinquish their power.
Especially in regard to the condition of women, ‘specific values’ are too often invoked to justify the subjection, maltreatment and mutilation of women.
Liberal International considers that no cultures, neither values nor traditions can ever justify violations of the human rights of individuals.
Liberal International reiterates its firm conviction that Human Rights have universal application and cannot and should not ever be qualified according to cultures, values, traditions, beliefs, gender, race, social condition or sexual preference.
Liberal International is aware of the fact that interaction of cultures can be mutually beneficial and enriching and therefore deserves to be encouraged. It deplores cultural intolerance and rejects efforts of a formal or informal nature to insulate societies and individuals from external influences or bar them from the adoption of cultural expressions as long as these do not violate the law.
Liberal International stresses that cultural variety constitutes one of the main riches of the world, and should be allowed to develop. The way to do this is not by closing societies to outside influence and foreign products.
Liberal International stresses that the closing up of societies and cultures has invariably led to cultural and intellectual attrition, has arrested evolution and development and has led to severe shocks when the confrontation with people and things foreign inevitably occurred.
Liberal International dismisses the notion that cultures and languages can and should be kept pure by insulating them from outside influence.
Liberal International points to the fact that this notion inevitably breeds suspicion xenophobia and a generally hostile attitude to the outside world.
Liberal International recognises that statehood and nationhood do not always coincide.
Liberal International does not consider states or nations as ends in themselves, but sees them as frameworks for peace and security, democracy, rule of law, individual freedom and the pursuit of happiness.
Liberal International recognises the strength of the attachment most people feel for the state they live in and/or the nation they belong to.
Liberal International recognises that states and nations are not just objective entities, but that they also and often foremost, are abstractions, entities existing chiefly in the hearts and minds of people.
Liberal International also recognises that most individuals draw their sense of identity, and of their place in the world from the state and/or nation they belong to.
Liberal International recognises as well that the impossibility for a person to experience this specific kind of belonging is often a source of considerable pain and distress. Contemporary debates on the state centre on two contradictory views. According to one view, states are under increasing pressure from within and from without, and will have to give way to some other public institutional arrangements. The other view holds that states have never been as powerful as today and that they are endowed with more powers than ever before and are thereby posing a severe threat to the autonomy and sovereignty of the individual.
Liberal International stresses that, while both views hold some truth, many populations do suffer, not from an excess of state, but from a lack of state organisation and governance.
Liberal International believes that, while states and citizens are rightly concerned with ensuring their security, absolute security does not and cannot exist. Life and development inevitably entail risks and uncertainties.
Liberal International believes that political parties and politicians who allow legitimate concerns for security to develop into outright passion follow a dangerous course leading to a decrease of tolerance and pluralism, and thus to an increased risk of internal and external conflict.
Liberal International is of the firm conviction that the legitimate concerns for security should not jeopardise political freedom.
Liberal International believes that world affairs, globalisation and the relations both within and between states present us with potential win/win situations.
Liberal International believes that, while there is no easy way to achieve this, the solution lies in a strengthening of democracy, in a renewal of democratic debate.
Liberal International believes strongly that more transparency and openness, that continuous public debate, that a constant effort to correctly inform citizens can help them to surmount their anxieties and fear.
Liberal International calls upon politicians, political parties, opinion leaders to realise that states and state authorities, in order to fulfil their mission of providing their citizens with the framework in which peacefully to pursue well-being and happiness, need to enter into dialogue and co-operation, need to develop the supranational and international organisations so as to avoid war and ensure peace, to provide a healthy environment and ecology for future generations and to combat the evils of organised global crime.
Liberal International calls upon states and state authorities to win the support of their citizens by respecting their human rights, establishing or renewing democracy and by ensuring the rule of law and to have the courage and will to pursue liberal solutions for the challenges facing the people of the world today.
Liberal International calls upon the citizens of the world to work for peace so that well-being and happiness may be pursued.
