The NGOs can make a remarkable job and construct the necessary mediations between the different local, national, international and world-wide levels of political action. The seminar is part of the World Social Forum. The seminar intends to promote an open debate on the themes III and IV of the Forum, which are the civil society and the public realm, as well as democratisation of global authority. The debate of each round table will be co-ordinated by a Chairperson. Environmental problems, exacerbated urbanisation, human rights, migrations, criminal networks related to drugs, among other relevant issues concerning the actual world order transcend the nation-state borders and generate dialogue between actors of the global scene.
Governance is a category with a normative and a prescriptive dimension.
In current debates on urban governance, for instance, the social conflict would be converted into rules of good management. It is true that the current debate on governance, and particularly that of financial international institutions, doesn't constitute an epidemiological opening for social sciences. The reference to essential questions of citizen management and participation, without directly mentioning the role of the State, made governance a very useful concept for the economic and financial experts around the world. Consequently, there is a great potential of mystification and a major risk of manipulation linked to the use of the notion of governance. It doesn't mean that societies sustain no democratic crisis, particularly in terms of representation, participation, legitimacy of actors and social cohesion.