Globalisation and Development:

Recent Debates and Policies

Protect the Future!

Protect the Future!

Eco-politics: radical democracy and participationsocial justice and solidarityenvironmentfuture generations

Founded in 2000, working with 30 committed activists and staff, and 700 registered supporters Védegylet is…

…a grassroot organisation

…a think-tank

… a ‘party’?

Activities• REFUGE: legal assistance and campaigning for

preserving local environmental and cultural heritage

• Ombudsman for Future Generations – and for Europe!

• Policy proposals, lobbying and campaigning: forestry, agriculture, public services, climate policy

• Awareness raising, public education: publications, conferences, debates, films, festivals

• Supporting alternatives, demonstration projects: Fair Trade, organic farming, participative governance

Alterglob Working GroupGlobalisation: not anti, but critical!• Understanding globalisation: publications,

conferences, festivals• GATS (General Agreement on Trade in Services):

position papers, lobbying• GATS-free zones in Hungary • Public services on the market: research and

publications• Trade policy and fair trade

The project: Capacity building for NGOs & local grass-roots organisations in the Czech Republic and Hungary

to raise awareness in development issues.

Building capacity for Glopolis (CS) and Védegylet (HU) and their local partners to develop a coherent strategy of awareness raising and knowledge, skills & techniques for agenda setting & influencing public opinion.

Organisations involved in the project: • Weltwirtschaft, Ökologie & Entwicklung - WEED,

Germany (lead org.) • Védegylet Egyesület (“Protect the Future”), Hungary

(consortium member)• 3. Prague Global Policy Institute - Glopolis, Czech

Republic

Activities:• Course• Research• Publication• CampaigningThe course:The course beginning in Autumn, 2007 aims at giving an

introduction to:• development theories• development policies• international development institutions• meanings of sustainability • indicators of development• major North-South/development-related issues, such

as trade, debt, aid, investment and finance, etc.

Development in CEEDev is reduced to its economic meaning.• Regime change was accompanied by a deep economic

depression.• Social dev has been relatively high in CEE (‘primature born

welfare state’), • Regime change led to political dev• Environmental quality have improved. However:• Economic growth of the past decade has not been able to

reduce social inequalities, on the contrary.• New ecological problems (climate change)• Formal democracy.There is a need to redefine development.

Development in CEEThere is a lack of global solidarity and global

consciousness in CEE countries.• No colonial past: no feeling of responisibility or guilt

towards poor countries.• ‘Communist solidarity’ devaluated the meaning of

international solidarity, global responisbility.• Lack of knowledge about the ‘3rd world’.• Self-pity and self-centred thinking.However:• We are part of the developed world (OECD, EU)• Globalisation brings somehow similar challenges

everywhere.There is a need to (re)invent our place, our role in global

development.

Development in CEE: questions to be answered

• How far is the crisis of development obvious for people in CEE countries? Is there a crisis anyway? Why (not)?

• Is there any chance for CEE to find its own development path under the conditions of globalisation?

• If so, what would be this path? Are there any dev alternatives present here?

• Who would be the main change agents in this respect? Civil society organisations? Others? What is the relation between them (us)?

• How can we link our dev problems to global challenges? What kind of dev discourse would best fit our cultural and political legacy?

• What are the similarities between our problems and the ‘3rd world’?

• What role could CEE countries play in global dev?