Intervento di Rosario Sapienza, ex msacchino di Catania, oggi docente di diritto internazionale alla UniCT
Global Governance. An agenda.
1. I have been asked to say a few introductory words to our panel on the notion of Glo bal Gover nance. It’ s in some ways a dif fi cult task, because, to put it blun tly, the idea of glo bal gover nance is, in my opi nion, more an ambi tion than a reality. The terms “glo bal gover nance” in fact express the quite opti mi stic idea that it is pos si ble to deve lop rules and regu la tions on the same scale as the glo bal pro blems facing the world now. This does not howe ver imply the establishment of new institutions, though some may find it desi ra ble, but rather stres ses a point: that we need sets of new regu la tions, both public and private, which may offer bet ter oppor tu ni ties to meet the chal len ges of glo bal pro blems. To speak of a “glo bal gover nance” thus also implies the idea of a cri sis of gover nance at the natio nal level, the idea that sta tes or at least some sta tes, are no lon ger able to pro perly per form their regu la tory tasks, inclu ding in the eco no mic and social milieus, to cope with new problems stem ming from glo ba li za tion. But it also invol ves, in some of its mani fe sta tions and approa ches (for exam ple in what is some ti mes cal led the glo bal free mar ket approach) the idea that inter na tio nal orga ni za tions, or at least those among them which are more tra di tio nal, more State cen tred or State … owned, are not able to cope ade qua tely with glo bal issues. The idea of glo bal gover nance is in fact cri ti cal of the State, both at the natio nal as at the inter go vern men tal level, because, in the spi rit of neo-liberalism, it asserts the supe rio rity of pri vate mana ge rial stra te gies on those enfor ced by governments.
