Tomorrow, Who Will Govern the World?
TRANSCEND MEMBERS, 15 Aug 2011
Anthony Judge – TRANSCEND Media Service
Commentary on Jacques Attali’s “Demain, qui gouvernera le monde?”
Introduction
The author of Demain, qui gouvernera le monde? (2011), Jacques Attali, has every reason to be considered an authority on the subject of his new book. Aside from having held many positions in relation to national and international governance, as an academic he has been an extremely prolific author on a wide range of relevant subjects, including A Brief History of the Future (2006), La crise, et après? (2008) and Survivre aux crises: 7 stratégies (2009). It may therefore be assumed that he knows full well whereof he writes. In relation to the book, Attali has been interviewed by Jean-Christophe Nothias (Tomorrow, Who Will Govern the World, The Global Journal, 3 May 2011).
The theme indicated by the title is clearly of wide concern, especially in the midst of a variety of crises which have demonstrated very clearly the relatively limited competence of governments and other institutions. However, from the perspective of this somewhat critical review, it is the title which is the most interesting feature of the book — namely the questions it raises, and those it fails to address. Rather than a review in the conventional sense, the following therefore uses Attali’s endeavour as a basis for “re-viewing” and reframing the question of the title and the issues it raises.
The paradigm within which the book appears to have been articulated is well-represented by the image on the cover of the French paperback edition. It is of a conventional symphony orchestra. The following criticism is made from a perspective which contrasts that image with one of the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest. The two images were used in an earlier comment on the occasion of the 3rd Annual Conference organized by the Global Governance Group of the New School of Athens (NSOA): Theme: Making Global Governance Work: Lessons from the Past. Solutions for the Future (Athens, 2008).
In arguing the point through a musical metaphor, there is an irony to the following criticism in that Attali himself in a previous study, to which he makes no reference, specifically indicated that cultures articulated their social organization through the musical structure favoured in the immediate past (Noise: the political economy of music, 1977). Thus he specifically relates the currently favoured pattern of organization to that of classical Western music. His current argument, with respect to “tomorrow”, should then at least take account of the pattern of music currently favoured by the voters of the future — as indicated to some extent by the second image.
The questionable relevance of Attali’s symphonic understanding of governance merits reflection in the light of a bipartisan report by the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs (Princeton University), titled Forging a World of Liberty Under Law, US National Security in the 21st Century (2006), notably proposes a charter for the establishment of a “concert of democracies“.
It is within this context that new understanding of how “who” is to be understood could prove to be vital to the sustainability of future governance.
PLEASE CONTINUE READING THE PAPER IN THE ORIGINAL – laetusinpraesens.org
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 15 Aug 2011.
Anticopyright: Editorials and articles originated on TMS may be freely reprinted, disseminated, translated and used as background material, provided an acknowledgement and link to the source, TMS: Tomorrow, Who Will Govern the World?, is included. Thank you.
If you enjoyed this article, please donate to TMS to join the growing list of TMS Supporters.
This work is licensed under a CC BY-NC 4.0 License.