Useful networking

The participants in the MGG (Managing Global Governance) courses are leading public servants and academics. Doesn’t it bother you that you are supporting members of the elite from poor countries?
No, we educate future decision makers from important countries and engage in dialogue with them. These are people who bear responsibility and help shape the future of their own countries and the global community. They are civil servants from foreign and finance ministries and others; from presidents’ offices, important government agencies and academic institutions. We make them more aware of issues such as environmental protection, social security, international trade and finance, and poverty reduction. Doing so is essential for finding common ground on how to solve global problems. The countries concerned are assuming an increa­singly crucial role internationally, due to their size and growing political and economic importance. I am certain that our work benefits not only the elite but all people of these countries.

The key objective of development policy is to reduce poverty. Your MGG courses do not contribute directly to doing so.
But they probably do so indirectly. We exchange views with our partners about their values and ours. This type of exchange is indispensable if we want to create a fair world order and participatory global governance structures. In the long run, many participants of the MGG courses will be important contacts for German institutions in international cooperation.
How do you know that these people will still be relevant in the long term?
These are people with very good career prospects. We select them together with the partner institutions in their home countries. This means both their employers and we feel the participants show promise. Even more, our initial experience shows that after they have completed their course in Germany, participants move up the ladder and take on more responsibility. For example, the Mexican government immediately appointed one of our participants as a consultant to its Foreign Minis­try to work on the Heiligendamm Process, in which G8 countries and the big emerging economies (“Outreach 5”) are working together to deal with global challenges.

Some of your participants come from countries under authoritarian rule. Is there not a risk that MMG-trained staff will strengthen the regime in Beijing, for example?
The likelihood of promoting long-term change is certainly far greater. Chinese aca­demics and government officials who live and work in Germany for six months, making and maintaining professional contacts, notice very soon that we do not only preach principles like pluralism, freedom of the press and freedom of opinion, but that these principles are what we live in Germany. The participants experience first hand what democracy means. We want to convince our partners of our values, and to do so, we need to engage in dialogue and debate with them. This is exactly what we do in the MGG courses.

So what is the feedback from your partner institutions?
Their response has been very positive. Time and again, they commend two things in particular:
– first, that we chose subject matters in close cooperation with them, so they feel they are being taken seriously in a partici­patory manner, and
– second, that the participants gain a far greater understanding of the way people in the other partner countries tick. We thus facilitate South-South networks on an individual level and between partner organisations, which is felt to be very useful too.

Does that also apply to Germany? India and China, for instance, are leading a coalition of emerging and developing countries that make life difficult for diplomats from rich countries in WTO negotiations.
There are quite clearly conflicts of interest and we certainly don’t want to conceal them. To the contrary: in order to find internationally sustainable solutions, we have to deal with our points of contention. The better negotiators understand one another, the greater chance there is of consensus and compromise. It is important to not only think in terms of national interest, but to develop global perspectives too.

In the end, however, multilateral talks often boil down to struggles over national interests.
But not exclusively. Of course it would be absurd to believe that national interest is irrelevant or might simply be sacrificed. But as long as people only think in terms of national interest, meaningful global gover­nance cannot be achieved. And in real life things are not that bad. For instance, we Europeans have made good progress. The members of the European Union no longer pursue national trade policies; they have transferred this task to the commission. Of course, all MGG participants get a vivid impression of how the EU works. Cooperation in Europe is fundamental to German foreign policy, and the EU has set internationally recognised standards in terms of democracy, security and social welfare.

The MGG concept obviously reaches far beyond narrowly understood development matters.
That’s right. We work on behalf of Germany’s Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), but the programme ultimately benefits the entire German government. We also cooperate with other departments. The Foreign Office carries out one of the course modules, and some participants complete internships in the Ministries of Finance and Environment, for example. The feedback from these offices is also positive. Our colleagues there are pleased with the level of stimulating and productive networking they did not enjoy to that extent in the past.

Interview by Hans Dembowski.