The role of the UN Millennium Declaration and of the World Economic and World Social Forum for Structural Change

Globalisation can in a polanyian sense be understood as a double movement. Societal reaction to the shortcomings of the corporate driven process of globalisation from above (the first movement) creates a counter movement from below (the second movement). The relations between different actors within the political landscape and the area of tensions between the two movements are characterised by the gramscian war of position and its power struggle over the hegemonic discourse. At times the constellation of political forces permits an institutionalised state of equilibrium built on converging interests between different social forces. During the Westphalia era with its nation-state project the social contract constituted the base for such an historic compromise. The end of the cold war and strengthened process of corporate globalisation has eroded the base for this social contract on a national level increasing development gaps not only between countries but also within countries. This paper addresses the question of room for manoeuvre for structural change in order to deal with present challenges within the Global Political Economy. It discusses how possibly the UN Millennium Declaration could be used in the ongoing discursive war of position between actors at the World Economic Forum in Davos (representing the first movement) and actors at the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre (representing the second movement) in order create a social base for a new social contract albeit on the global level. Such a discussion also illustrates present potential of these arenas in contributing to a future global political economy of peace and development.