The Role of Non State Actors in Global Politics
GGN Debate
Globalization has reduced the strategic economic effectiveness of states but not the demand for governance at the local and global levels. Moreover, traditional territorial politics lack the instruments to bridge the gap between representation and accountability required by the new distribution of economic power and influence between local actors and new global players such as transnational corporations and international civil society organizations. A sizeable institutional gap also exists between the electoral process and the activities of new systemic global players which actually determine the direction of economic change and influence global decision-making processes.
What do these new actors contribute to political practice? What policy lessons can be learned from these new relationships between power and influence? How can electoral politics bridge the gap between governance and government? What changes in existing political mechanisms of representation and accountability are required to deal with the power divide between economic global players and existing structures of democratic representation?