NGOs, Global Civil Society and Global Economic Regulation

In a period of less than a year three events dramatically highlighted the necessity for change in both the form and content of global governance. The three events were the Asian financial crisis of 1997–98, the failure of President Clinton’s attempt to secure fast-track negotiating authority from the US Congress in November 1997, and the postponement of the negotiations for the proposed OECD Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) in April 1998. Each of these events illustrate the need for international regulation to be rooted in the democratic consent of national societies and the degree to which such regulation is likely to fail if it lacks a social element.