Friday, 18.12.2020 14.30–15.30
↳ REMOTE CRITIQUES
Geneva has developed into an international, global HUB that is a model for liberal capitalism. But when considering only the multilateral organizations as shapers of the legal situation, one must no forget that the surrounding supernational governmental apparatuses are not considered in the decision-making process. In addition to the area of international organizations on the west coast, a conglomerate of complementary businesses is located in the old town. Switzerland, as a lean state without natural resources but with a booming economy, low taxes and little regulation is an El Dorado for the resource companies and their shareholders that have settled in Geneva over the last twenty years. Despite the many criticisms and the demand for more transparency, inexplicably Switzerland does not want any special regulation for the commodity trading sector. The reasons for this remain speculation, but it’s fact that their lobbying helped shape the legislative work and they have been spared from new transparency regulations to this day.
The current UN apparatus is too inefficient, too slow and too centralized to enforce its provisions successfully and the isolation of the individual organizations prevents effective implementation across organizations. The observation of the Geneva strip starting from the Avenue de France, the Pont du Mont Blanc and the Rampe de Cologny, represents an intransparent mini cosmos of a global economic model. Observing the situation in Geneva across the strip to the UN serves as an insight on how informal space connects different areas into a symbiotic and fast-acting Ensemble.
The Lobby Accelerator embedded in the existing situations at the International Organizations ensures more efficient lobbying in a decentralized network used by diplomats, officials and the public. In this new organization, whose network generates informal nodal points due to its sheer size, legally liberated negotiations can happen and promise to speed up the action and take the UN back to the centre of global governance, where the decisions can have a direct impact on people’s lives.
Ancillary disciplines: Professorship M. Topalovic; Professorship G. Vogt
Team: Dominik Arni, François Charbonnet, Marine de Dardel, Pedro Guedes, Steffen Hägele, Patrick Heiz, Marina Montresor, Francisco Moura Veiga
