Monday 28 July 2008

The Omnilateralist

Omnilateralism

The concept of "omnilateralism" was first developed by Dr. Wolfgang Pape in World Affairs, Jul-Sep 1997, p.94-109, in the context of international relations and global governance, see article below.

The term is derived from the Latin "omnibus" meaning 'for and by all', as abbreviated in the word 'bus' used in most languages for a vehicle carrying people, for my more detailed definition see under "omnilateralism" in Wikipedia.
Simplified with examples from Omni- to Unilateralism:
Omni- (including all global stakeholders) > Multi- (only recognised nations, e.g. UN) > Pluri-(two or more nations, e.g. Agreement on Government Procurement in WTO) >Bi- (FTA between Japan and Switzerland) > Uni- (by only one nation, e.g. USA under George W. Bush)

See also Working Paper "Opening the World to Omnilateralism" at http://ec.europa.eu/comm/cdp/working-paper/opening_the_wold.pdf

I invite creative comments to share, but please give source and use if you copy. Thanks!

No comments: