Loading...
Conference news - What choices do democracies have in globalizing economies?-technocratic policy making and democratization
United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD)
United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD)
Author(s) (Additional)
Illustrator(s)
Producer(s)
Contributor(s)
Contributor(s) (Other)
Editor(s)
Advisor(s)
Contact(s)
Data Collector(s)
Keywords
Collections
Files
Loading...
techno.pdf
Adobe PDF, 417.56 KB
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Online Access
Abstract
"This conference, organized under the UNRISD project on Technocratic Policy Making and Democratization, was held to discuss the constraints faced by new democracies as they become increasingly integrated into the world market. The conference attracted about 80 participants, drawn from international agencies, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), the diplomatic community and academic institutions. Eighteen scholars and practitioners led discussions in four sessions: independent authorities and democratic accountability; economic reforms, democratization and social policy; civil society and technocratic governance; and economic policy making and parliamentary accountability. There was an opening keynote address focusing on financial globalization and democratization, and a closing keynote address on ways of strengthening democratic institutions in the era of globalization. Democracy or Technocracy? Since the early 1990s, there has been a strong wave of democratization in most regions of the world. Most surveys on democratization record a sharp rise in the number of countries that can now be classified as democratic, even though the quality of democratic institutions is uneven across countries. Issues of representation, accountability and transparency have become prominent on the agendas of citizen groups concerned with sound government and equitable development. Indeed, many international agencies now associate participation in decision making with effective public policies. However, the global trend in democratization is being challenged by another trend that is gathering strength with globalization: the increasingly technocratic style that seems to inform the making of economic policy in many countries and in multilateral economic institutions generally. Financial globalization and the dominance of neoliberal ideas in multilateral financial institutions and the G-7 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States) are narrowing the choices in economic policy making to a limited set of objectives. Described in some circles as the Washington Consensus , these objectives can be summarized as conservative fiscal policies, privatization, and open trade and capital accounts, all of which reflect an acceptance of price stability as the primary concern of macroeconomic policy."(pg 1)
Note(s)
Topic
Type
Conference proceedings
Date
2000-04-27
Identifier
ISBN
DOI
Copyright/License
With permission of the license/copyright holder