It is bringing profound changes to national life and international life. As Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said, it is now widely understood that states are the servants of, and accountable to, their peoples, not the other way around. However, growing pains are evident in efforts to involve civil society more deeply in the work of governments and international organizations. The passion of civil society groups is clear. But the actual mechanisms for their participation are showing strains, as governments question their legitimacy while they in turn question whether governments are really committed to anything more than token transparency.
Globalization is also irreversible.
Globalization is commonly understood to describe those advances in technology and communications that have made possible an unprecedented degree of financial and economic interdependence and potential for growth. As markets are integrated, the theory goes, investments flow more easily, competition is enhanced, prices are lowered and living standards everywhere are improved. Today globalization is a fact of life, although the theory has not worked out precisely as envisaged. We are all consumers in the same global economy. Instant communications and free-wheeling movements of capital, goods and peoples have created a web of relationships that transcend frontiers.