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GRAD Project: A Multi-Civilizational and Dialogic Research Proposal

Co-Sponsored by

Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research

Globalization Research Center, University of Hawaii

In 2001, the Toda Institute in collaboration with the Globalization Research Center (GRC) of the University of Hawaii initiated a new project entitled, "Globalization, Regionalization, and Democratization (GRAD): A Multi-Civilizational and Dialogic Research Project." The project is a continuation of the Toda Institute's pursuit of peace with peaceful means through participatory and collaborative research. In the current phase, the Institute and GRC will act as catalysts in launching a truly worldwide, multi-civilizational, and dialogic research program on the most pressing problems facing humankind in the new millennium. The following provides only the briefest possible description of the project. As GRAD proliferates into a growing number of Action Research Teams (ARTs), we hope its findings to stimulate serious discussions with an impact on peace and policy in all regions of the world.

Research Problem

Modernization has taken a variety of shapes, including the theocratic (such as Puritanism and Islamism), liberal, communist, fascist, and military forms.

However, globalization may be considered as the oldest of the three trends. It has gone through three phases in human history. The first round of globalization took place along the Eurasian landmass from ancient China to Rome through the Silk, Spice, and Incense Roads. The second round started with the sailing of Columbus to the New World in 1492 followed by massive population movements and colonization of Africa, Asia, and America by the Europeans. The third round has been assuming increasing momentum in the post World War II period by the technological revolutions in transportation and telecommunication. This round has led to the rise of a new global system that may be labeled as Informatic Civilization and Empire, focused on the control of knowledge industries rather than territories.

Regionalization has an equally long history from regional empires to its current form in part responding to the challenges of globalization. Western Europe pioneered the new by establishing the European Economic Community followed by the European Union. Other regions of the world have followed suit, organizing around NAFTA, MERCOSUR, ASEAN, SAARC, CIS, ECO, etc. The trend continues in a variety of modalities in different regions and subregions.

Democratization, by contrast, is a process of broadening and deepening of political participation that has a long history. However, following the fall of the Soviet Union and Eastern European dictatorships in the early 1990s, democratization has become an unmistakable force throughout the world. The modalities of democratization vary enormously from region to region and country to country. Its main features include popular sovereignty, constitutions and rule of law, periodic elections, and checks and balances by increasingly autonomous centers of power in government (legislative, executive, and judiciary) and civil society (political parties, trade unions, media, as well as professional and voluntary associations).

Although the four trends are deeply intertwined, there are significant lags and leads among them. While globalization is rapidly moving forward under the leadership of transnational corporations (TNCs) and intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) such as the World Bank, IMF, and WTO, regionalization and democratization have a significantly slower pace. Widening of wealth and income gaps within and among countries and regions of the world is calling for new modes of participation in global governance beyond the current nation-state system. Continuation of the growing gaps clearly undermines the social compact within and among nations and threatens global peace and stability.

Research Objectives

To bring together a number of peace and policy research centers from major civilizations into a collaborative multi-civilization research project focused on democratization. Spread over imaginary continents, these civilizations include:

1. The indigenous world,
2. The Hindu-Islamic world stretching from South East Asia to Central Asia and North Africa,
3. The Buddhist-Confucian world stretching from East to Central and South East Asia,
4. The African world south of the Sahara,
5. The Euro-North American world from the Ural Mountains to Canada, the US, Australia & New Zealand,
6. The Latin American world, and
7. A global civilization resulting from the convergence of all past and present cultures.

• To develop a multi-civilizational conceptual framework focusing on the unity and variety of conditions and institutions for global democracy in an age of globalization and regionalization.
• To conduct empirical and comparative research on critical aspects of democratization under the conditions of globalization and regionalization. These may include the role of state, market, civil society, political participation, women, migration and diasporic communities, technological innovation and adaptation, cultural identity and multiple citizenship, urban planning, art and literature, etc.
• To propose recommendations and to engage in action research wherever appropriate to advance the causes of peace, justice, and democracy.

Research Plan

Research Organization

The GRAD Project will be mainly organized and financed by a consortium of peace and policy research centers from all seven continental civilizations. It will however enlist the collaboration of a wider spectrum of scholars and research institutes throughout the world at subsequent stages of the project and with respect to more specific research problems and activities. A Steering Committee consisting of the directors of co-sponsoring organizations will manage the project. A variety of Action Research Teams (ARTs) will conduct research on different aspects of the project. An International Advisory Group will evaluate the output of the project as it evolves.
 

Research Financing

The role of the Toda Institute and the Globalization Research Center at the University of Hawaii is to act as catalysts and, to the extent possible, as funders. The planning conference of March 2002 will lead to the formation of ARTs, raising their own funding from other sources as well.
 

Research Output

The project is expected to produce three distinctly different sets of output. These include (1) publications in print (articles, monographs, books), WebPages, and video documentaries (2) recommendations on problems of human security and global governance at local, national, regional, and international levels, and (3) triple track diplomatic initiatives to bring governments, non-governmental organizations, and civil societies into dialogue in a process of democratization in conflict resolution.
 

Research Timetable

While it is possible to consider a flexible timetable for certain projects within GRAD's framework, the research program as a whole needs to have a definite timetable to ensure tangible output. Three-year intervals seem to be a realistic time horizon for the GRADARTs to produce tangible results by meeting face-to-face and through telecommunication in the conduct of their research projects.
 

Participating Organizations

A number of peace and policy research centers have been negotiating with the Toda Institute for participation in the project.
 

Looking Back and Forward

Modernization, globalization, regionalization, and democratization are often perceived as relatively new phenomena. However, a deeper look shows that the roots of all four trends and the problems they have posed go way back into history. Some 2500 years ago, the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu in his poetic work, Tao Te Ching, expressed his reflections on the human conditions that are profoundly relevant today. The GRAD project aims at searching for the empirical as well as the normative challenges facing the human species in the coming century. In this respect, there is perhaps no more instructive a commentary on the environmental, cultural, political, social, and economic consequences and remedies of modernization and globalization than the one we can find in the following verse (as translated by Witter Bynner, http://www.wakeup.org/anadolu/04/3/book.html)

"Those who would take over the earth
And shape it to their will
Never, I notice, succeed.
The earth is like a vessel so sacred
That at the mere approach of the profane
It is marred
And when they reach out their fingers it is gone.
For a time in the world some force themselves ahead
And some are left behind,
For a time in the world some make a great noise
And some are held silent,
For a time in the world some are puffed fat
And some are kept hungry,
For a time in the world some push aboard
And some are tipped out:
At no time in the world will a man who is sane
Over-reach himself,
Over-spend himself,