Some function primarily as policy developers. Others function primarily as agitators. Many of the rabble-rousers in Seattle fall into this group. There is no shortage of money for civil society. Ironically, many of the same organizations whose members carried signs in Seattle, promoting national sovereignty as a defense against the WTO, are the same organizations that insist on U.N. enforcement of environmental regulations.
Global governance is still a work in progress.
The United Nations, as well as civil society have long ago agreed that world government is the only way to assure sustainable development, the equitable distribution of the earth's resources, and global disarmament. The only questions that remain concern precisely how world government should be organized. All of the various scenarios for world government have several points in common. One of these is the creation of a permanently constituted body of NGO representatives that serve as the voice of the people, providing advice to the U.N. General Assembly and to the various U.N. agencies. The U.N. selected a group of NGOs to begin organizing this body in 1996.