What's Running the World: Global Values, World Law, the United Nations, and Global Governance

Abstract

The language of values is in fashion nowadays. Global values are often employed, either as elements of a coherent theory or simply as rhetorical tools, by some of the most influential politicians of our age. Global values have also become a popular object of study for many scholars, particularly in the disciplines of international law, political science, and philosophy. The question many international lawyers ask themselves these days is, somewhat bluntly formulated, whether international law has moved from an essentially value-free order of sovereign and independent states, to a more cosmopolitan order, based on universal values and common interests. Political scientists ask themselves a similar question; one can simply replace the words ‘international law’ with ‘the world’. Many cosmopolitan philosophers, more concerned with ideas than with the actual state of affairs, have since ancient times been preaching for a world led by common interests and values. Boosted by globalization, one can see that in recent years this strand of cosmopolitanism is experiencing a revival: it now seems a possible description of reality. Despite all this attention to global values and the cosmopolitan sentiments underlying it, the concept itself remains somewhat obscure. The various lists of values, proposed by individual politicians, scholars, NGO’s, and international organizations, differ to some extent, both in content and in character, and a clear definition of what constitutes a global value is lacking. The aim of chapter 2 of this article is thus to start by shedding some light on the global values discourse. A definition of global values will be proposed, some general criteria for a suitable process for the determination of global values will be outlined, and the relevance of global values for global governance, which is generally defined in terms of global values and global leadership, will be explained. The same themes will reoccur in the third chapter, which deals with the way in which global values find expression in international law, especially in the norms of world law. This term will be defined and further analyzed in the third chapter. In chapter 4, the focus is on the United Nations. It will be argued that this international organization plays a key role in defining and translating global values into world law, and global coordination, possibly even leadership, in the global community’s joint efforts to realize these values.