Here are some highlights of the Convoco Forum on the topic of Power and its Paradoxes: Who’s Really in Charge in a Globalized World? – Thoughts on geopolitical power relations, the formulation of policy, and the Euro.
The contrast between the fall of Communism and the Arab Spring
The collapse of the Berlin Wall has shown that a new society depends upon the consent of its members. Consent can only be built through the sovereignty of the individual who takes responsibility. In the days of Gaddafi in Libya people were powerless, as they were under communism. But they were also oppressed. There were no networks or structures that kept alive the memory of another way of being or of other forms of power. The powerless did not exercise their power. The only idea for a better future was to replace the powerful, not to advance the powerless. ROGER SCRUTON
The collapse of geopolitical power
The ability of the international community to make binding decisions is in decline, despite a rising demand for international decision-making, and in spite of the increasing number of players (states, NGOs, Google and Facebook).
Using our power merely to maintain the status quo is no longer an option. There are about 60 million refugees worldwide. The population of Africa will increase from one to approx. three billion people over the coming decades. It is unlikely that Africa’s economic development will keep pace. If one thinks the current world order is difficult, it is not likely to get easier any time soon. WOLFGANG ISCHINGER
Policy advice works even if not every recommendation is implemented
Disagreement in debate can, of course, be fruitful. Only the critical discussion of expert advice in the public arena ensures that it gains objectivity. As Karl Popper observed, “The objectivity of science is not a matter for the individual scientist, but rather the social result of mutual criticism.”
Policy advisors need to comprehend how public debates influence awareness.
See CLEMENS FUEST
Many advisors, many opinions
We need to accept that the multiplicity of expert opinions is part of the solution and not a problem. It is an invitation to open debate out of which political decisions can be formulated.
The European financial equalization system is already a reality
German Euro policy favors a return to a system of austerity and bailouts. The result is an unregulated system of financial equalization. The financial equalization system is already a reality.
The question remains do we recognize it as a legitimate child of the Eurozone with a fiscal constitution that is work in progress, or as the illegitimate child of an illogical policy.
ALBRECHT RITSCHL