And just as the corporate strategy seeks to create governance structures at local, regional, national, and transnational levels to support its interests, so the Lilliput Strategy seeks to establish rules protecting the interests of those whom globalization threatens. The illicit Strategy requires a high level of cooperation among people who are diverse and distant and who have conflicting as well as common interests. Overcoming such divisions will require synergistic win-win approaches, mutually beneficial compromises, and agreements to disagree but still cooperate. It is not just a task for a few leaders, but for thousands and ultimately millions of people operating on their own initiative. For at the core of the Lilliput Strategy lies the work of overcoming divisions by constructing links.
Most individuals are largely powerless in the face of economic forces beyond their control.
But because millions of other people are affected in the same way, they have a chance to influence their conditions through collective action. To do so, people must grasp that the common interest is also their own personal interest. It underlies the development of an environmental movement which seeks to preserve the environment on which all depend. For example, when people in one country support the right of workers to organize and strike in other countries, they are helping others, but they are also helping themselves by ensuring that they will not have to compete with those forced to work in degraded conditions. Linking the Global to the Local To link self-interest with common global interests, the first step is to clarify the connections between the immediate conditions people face and the global processes that are affecting them.