Toward Global Parliament

As economic and social decisions are increasingly being made internationally, both civil society and business networks are attempting to gain seats at the global table. The evolution of these two networks has been largely uncoordinated, and neither can claim to represent the global citizenry as a whole. Global civil society's critics are already challenging its claims to represent the public interest, and the charge of illegitimacy has even greater resonance when leveled at corporate and banking elites. This article makes the case that only when citizens and business interests work within an overarching democratically representative global body can they achieve policy accommodations that will be widely seen as legitimate.This article is available at the Foreign Affairs website