Reading the project, ‘Global civilization: Challenges for sovereignty, democracy, and security’

Abstract

How can concerned people think and act at this moment when significant global transformation seems promising? After a brief introduction, this question is approached by describing how one project—‘Global Civilization: Challenges for Sovereignty, Democracy, and Security’—responds to this period in history. Project affiliates have engaged in cross-cultural and interdisciplinary dialogue about the prospects for the creation of a just world peace, focusing on conflicting and changing demands on the concepts and practices of sovereignty, democracy and security in the midst of dynamic and contradictory global trends. They have identified two dominant themes evident in these trends: (1) the limited character of still potent Cold War ideologies; (2) rapidly emerging globalization evident in the movements for social and political change. After describing the project's analysis and approach to policy problems, assessment is made of how the project might proceed in its public outreach, ending with an invitation for further dialogue.