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By the end of 2008 we need more than just an account of what we have got wrong, we need a practical policy agenda. Here Fabian General Secretary Sunder Katwala sets out ten steps to a better world
1. A fair global deal on climate change
There can be no unilateral solution to climate change. Ratifying a fair global deal before the Kyoto treaty runs out in 2012 depends on reaching agreement in 2009. As diplomacy intensifies after the Bali summit, the US transition will be crucial. The US debate is shifting. If the next US President's inaugural address commits to leadership on climate change, the chances of engaging China in serious negotiations would grow.
Fair contributions to cutting carbon must be at the heart of the long-term vision, between developed and developing countries and domestically too. But we need to start a debate about what happens to countries who don't sign up this time. Gordon Brown should propose that, after 2015, WTO membership should be conditional on signing up to a binding framework on emissions. And there will be pressure on fairness grounds for trade sanctions against free riders from publics in countries that have signed up.
2. Ditch the 'war on terror' to win hearts and minds
Protecting citizens and national security is a primary duty of government. But we need to get smarter on terrorism. Other western leaders should persuade the next US President to join them in ditching for good the language of the 'war on terror' which has helped Islamist extremists to promote the 'clash of civilisations' they want. Effective intelligence and policing – including moves to create a Global Bureau of Investigation – must be combined with a deeper 'hearts and minds' battle to discredit extremist ideologies.
Success depends on fully engaging Muslim communities at home and abroad: contributing to effective policing and intelligence; preventing extremist literature from outside undermining British Muslim efforts to forge good community relations; and global public diplomacy to show how British Muslims are forging their own confident identity to combine faith and civic participation.
3. Learn the lessons of Iraq to rethink intervention
We must learn many lessons after the Iraq war – from the failures of intelligence and diplomacy to the shameful lack of a reconstruction plan. In the UK, Gordon Brown should announce that a full public inquiry will begin once British troops leave Iraq. Increased government contributions to the Iraqi Reconstruction Fund (IRFFI), and civil society engagement with Iraqi media, trade unions and other bulwarks of democracy is the best way to reflect our continuing moral responsibility to post-war Iraq.
Learning the lessons of a catastrophic pre-emptive intervention should not involve ignoring genocide in future. The UN Responsibility to Protect principles should be at the heart of a new European Security Strategy: national governments should promote much greater awareness of how these principles address public concerns about how intervention can be effective and legitimate. To make this work in practice, Britain should respond positively to President Sarkozy's moves to end France's semi-detached status in NATO, by agreeing to jointly leading deeper EU defence cooperation among member states who spend 2% of GDP on defence, and promoting a EU Peace Corps to use European civilian and human security expertise to put prevention first.
4. Make Middle East peace
No single issue would improve global politics more than securing a just two state solution in the Middle East, guaranteeing peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians. The contours of the deal that both sides will need to make are well known – including how the most difficult issues such as Jerusalem and the right of return would be resolved. The deal can only be done by the principal actors but the US, Arab League and EU have an essential role in persuading those they have most influence over. UK and EU support for the Palestinian economy is also an important way to give people a stake in the future, but a political settlement remains deeply urgent.
5. Show that diplomacy can deliver on Iran
EU-led diplomacy has delayed Iranian nuclear proliferation. The task is to show that diplomacy, rather than military action, can offer a long-term resolution by making a 'grand bargain' possible – where Iran would engage with its responsibilities on proliferation and the export of extremism, with international support for civilian nuclear power, and full diplomatic relations with the United States.
Western governments should state that it is for Iranians should decide their own political future - undermining hardline attempts to use confrontation abroad for domestic purposes. Civil society voices should engage in dialogue about how we can best offer solidarity to Iranian-led campaigns, on issues including press freedom and the rights of all candidates to be allowed to contest fair elections.
6. Deliver on the millennium development goals
Fair market access for African exports should be a top priority of a broad agenda for human development. The EU should learn from how the US Africa Growth and Opportunity Act is much more effective than its own policy, with similar aims.
Effective aid will matter too. With UK aid set to reach the historic UN target of 0.7% of national income by 2013, we should set a new ambition to reach 1% by 2025, pledging to focus new aid money on guaranteeing universal primary education and access to healthcare. The public could be invited to 'top up' government aid for these causes, through a new Fundraising Arm of DFID, as well as supporting development charities.
7. Bring the UN into the 21st century
Brazil, Germany, India, Japan and South Africa should gain permanent seats on the Security Council. But reforms should increase effectiveness as well as legitimacy, with no extension of veto powers to new members. Appointments to lead key multilateral institutions should be on merit, not reserved for particular nationalities. EU governments should give up Europe's 'rights' under current arrangements, in favour of free and fair global competition next time the IMF head is chosen.
8. Campaign to make democracy matter on the global stage
Creating international institutions which countries want to join has proved the most powerful way to make regimes want to change, democratically. Developing world democracies should have more voice and voting power in the IMF and World Bank.
A public citizen's campaign should set out the long-term goal that the United Nations should give General Assembly voting rights only to legitimate governments. The Burmese Junta, which denies its own citizens a vote, would have observer status. It isn't practical politics now – but it could be achieved by the centenary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 2048, following a concerted peaceful effort, decade by decade, to make the world a lonelier place for dictatorships.
We should campaign for symbolic changes at home too. Governments have to deal with unsavoury regimes. But why not hold off on the pomp and ceremony of official state visits for the worst human rights offenders? A parliamentary human rights committee could hold public hearings to monitor this: it would mean no more red carpet treatment for the House of Saud.
9. Keep the door open to full EU membership for Turkey
If the question was put today, it would be vetoed. While Turkey has further to travel to complete democratic reforms, the danger is of rejectionist voices in Turkey and within Europe feeding off each other.
The political challenge is to make membership possible a decade from now. That would throw away the biggest strategic contribution Europe could make in showing how deep social and political change can be achieved by consent. A 'hearts and minds' approach to Islam will seem hollow if the door is slammed shut.
10. For Britain to contribute, we must punch our weight – in Europe.
We need a new multilateralism for the world after Bush. Much depends on the European Union stepping up as a serious global player. Winning public support across the EU demands a powerful new case for 'next generation Europe', less about historic achievements and institutional blueprints and instead focusing sharply on issues where we must act together to act at all.
This credible global Europe depends on Britain being fully engaged. The jury is still out. The UK is the most globally engaged of any society, and the most globally open major economy. We have most to gain from global cooperation, and most to lose if it fails. We must make full use of our membership of the EU, the world's most powerful, democratic multilateral force.
So the British government needs to stop telling the public it is protecting us from the worst of the European project – and start making the positive case that we only punch our weight through Europe if we want our voice to count. Politicians who talk about climate change or global development are simply not credible if they shy away from the essential means to deliver.
This is the argument that should be the heart of a progressive manifesto at the next election – why a confident case for European Britain is essential to shaping the world we want.
- Sunder Katwala is General Secretary of the Fabian Society
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