Barack Obama, Gordon Brown, Multilateralism, and the New Global Society

Coming on the heels of Joe Biden’s applause-worthy speech to Munich last week, where he assured European leaders and security officials “strong partnerships to meet common challenges” and promised “to set a new tone in Washington, and in America’s relations around the world,” Prime Minister Gordon Brown said today that  the election of Barack Obama paves the way for the creation of “a global society in our lifetime,” according to the Daily Record in Scotland.

Speaking to the House of Commons Liaison Committee, Brown said that “Mr Obama’s commitment to multi-lateralism and readiness to work through international institutions like the United Nations created the conditions for a truly global society existing alongside national identities and loyalties.”

The Prime Minister said he would work “very closely” with the new U.S. President and compared efforts to resuscitate the American economy with “what we have been doing in Britain.”

Dismissing comparisons between the cozy Bush-Blair relationship, Brown said, “I feel the relationship between America and Britain can be stronger because of the shared policies and the shared values by which we approach the international problems ahead.”

Other Gordon Brown “global society” quotes:

“I think it is a multilateralism that foreshadows the creation of a global society in our lifetime.”

“What has happened round the world is that we have had global markets, global financial flows, global contact between different peoples with the ease of travel and instantaneous communications. What we are actually doing is in addition to our national institutions and national identities and loyalties, we are also building a global society.”