Interview Transcript
Jean-Francois Rischard: In the book, I sort of thought that the only way out would be not to try to extrapolate the nation state and _________ system all the way to the global levebecause I don't think that will workbut to actually think out of the box in terms of expert systems. In other words, not through representation systems, but expert systems. So I described in the book an idea which I call global issues networks where one would, for each of these 20 urgent global issues, set up a body of the world's best experts in that area. So let's take the example of fisheries depletion, which is a very serious problem which is about to become irreversible. The idea would be that one of the international institutions matter which one because they would only be involved as facilitators . . . So if it's fisheries depletion, it could be FAO in Rome which is a UN outfit, or the World Bank. I don't care which one it is. They're just facilitators. Le's say it's the World Bank. The World Bank would essentially gather 30 of the best experts it knows of in the fisheries management area. Ten would come from governments that have a lot of experience in fisheries management; 10 would come from the NGO area the international civil society area ....... and 10 would come from business. Whether business is part of the problem or part of the solution, it doesn't matter. Business has a lot of knowledge about fishing techniques and so forth. And these 30 experts would create sort of the beginning of a global issues network, which would then go into a second phase where some . . . another 60 experts would be co-opted. So you would have 90 a third from government, a third from business, and a third from the NGO world. And it's very important to say that these 90 experts would be essentially gathered by the international organization and then later by the early on experts only on the basis of their knowledge. In other terms, I happen to be from Luxembourg as we said earlier. I would not a fisheries expert from Luxembourg government to be in there because we don't know anything about fish. But I would want an expert from Iceland, from Mauritania, from South Africa, from Portugal, from Spain to be in there. So it's really an expert-driven . . . expertise-driven concept. And these 90 experts, once gathered, would go into a seclusion mode for two, three years. Not this off and on mode of the international system now which is very shallow; but essentially they would spend the next two or three years of their lives forgetting where they came from whether they came from this or that government, this or that company, or this or that NGO; but represent all of us in terms of representing all of us in the humanity of this planet to solve this fisheries problem onceand for all.
Recorded on: 7/2/07
Supervising Nation-States with Experts
Former Vice President, The World Bank
Using a panel of experts to regulate the world.
March 5, 2008 | In Politics & Policy
Discuss
Simon-Pierre Lauzon on March 18, 2008, 3:42 PM
I believe people would chose the experts on other qualities than their expertise.
Simon-Pierre Lauzon on March 18, 2008, 7:42 PM
I believe people would chose the experts on other qualities than their expertise.
Neko Ng on May 19, 2008, 6:27 AM
I actually like this idea. Although it is rather idealistic, expertise is one strength which international organisations should tap on to solve global issues. As pointed out by Rischard, since we are all part of the human race, we should put aside our selfish interest and solve these urgent issues at hand. However, many people are pragmatic, not to mention greedy so politics will definitely come into play during the selection process and the solution may not be as effective as projected
Neko Ng on May 19, 2008, 10:27 AM
I actually like this idea. Although it is rather idealistic, expertise is one strength which international organisations should tap on to solve global issues. As pointed out by Rischard, since we are all part of the human race, we should put aside our selfish interest and solve these urgent issues at hand. However, many people are pragmatic, not to mention greedy so politics will definitely come into play during the selection process and the solution may not be as effective as projected
Vasant Ramaswamy on July 23, 2008, 11:32 AM
Jean-Francios, I think this is a wonderful idea. The crux is in the choice of experts. The company I founded tries to address this in the context of healthcare providers worldwide and it is tricky. However, I would urge you to take the idea to the next level and get it to implementation in one area – I would be delighted to try and make this happen in Healtchare.
Vasant Ramaswamy on July 23, 2008, 3:32 PM
Jean-Francios, I think this is a wonderful idea. The crux is in the choice of experts. The company I founded tries to address this in the context of healthcare providers worldwide and it is tricky. However, I would urge you to take the idea to the next level and get it to implementation in one area – I would be delighted to try and make this happen in Healtchare.
Hector Miguel Padilla on July 30, 2008, 6:55 PM
It is going to encounter many problems and the obstacles are high, on the other hand we have to start formally in the direction of Global concensus and nobody thinks is going to be easy, the National States are a thing of the past after WWII, young people are more globally attuned and the new internet generation is definetedly implosive and totally involved, are we the T.V. generation lagging behind?. The proposition is highly inteligent and well thought yet we are a bit late.
Hector Miguel Padilla on July 30, 2008, 10:55 PM
It is going to encounter many problems and the obstacles are high, on the other hand we have to start formally in the direction of Global concensus and nobody thinks is going to be easy, the National States are a thing of the past after WWII, young people are more globally attuned and the new internet generation is definetedly implosive and totally involved, are we the T.V. generation lagging behind?. The proposition is highly inteligent and well thought yet we are a bit late.
Josep ll. Ortega on August 31, 2008, 1:01 AM
This is an extraordinary idea that might work, and that has no obvious disadvantages. While I do think a global system of democratic governance along federalist lines would be a good thing, I agree with Rischard that we need to do something on a short term basis. I would like to see global issues networks implemented as soon as possible.
Josep ll. Ortega on August 31, 2008, 5:01 AM
This is an extraordinary idea that might work, and that has no obvious disadvantages. While I do think a global system of democratic governance along federalist lines would be a good thing, I agree with Rischard that we need to do something on a short term basis. I would like to see global issues networks implemented as soon as possible.
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