Week 13 Lecture Questions

Professor Jackson ended this week’s lecture with several questions about the notion of a global public sphere.  It is a discussion filled with open-ended possibilities, but I will offer my own opinions on a few of the questions. 

1.  Can there actually be a global public sphere if every state does not have democratic accountability?

           

I believe the answer is yes.  A strong enough public movement in one country that is reinforced by the public in other states can be enough to force the governments of individual states that are not democratic to act.  Take Egypt for example.  A popular overthrow of the government would not truly have been possible without the rising public opinion of the Arab spring or without the support of other publics around the world urging their government to support the people’s bid for a change.  With that said, democratic accountability certainly makes the public sphere exerting its will substantially easier.

2. Does the global public sphere have the ability to declare action?

I also believe the answer to this question is yes.  The ability of the public to declare action internationally is something that we see time and again in the form of popular protests.  Take for example the Occupy movement, which we saw spread throughout the world in 2011.  The global public sphere declared their thoughts and beliefs in unison, demonstrating to the world that they had the ability to do so.  The ability to declare action is a far cry from authorizing that action, though, as we’ll get to in the next question.

3. Does the public have the authority to declare action?

I do not believe the global public sphere has the authority to declare action on the international level.  In the end, the actions of states depend on those powerful few that preside over the governments in charge of them.  They are the ones who authorize international action.  Even in democratically elected governments, where citizens authorize the powerful few to govern, they do not ultimately hold the power to force those in command to make certain decisions.  They have the ability to declare that international action be taken, but they do not have the authority to make it happen.

4.  Is there one global public sphere or can there be smaller, regional concentrations?

I believe the two possible answers to these questions are not mutually exclusive, and each could apply depending on the situation you are applying it to.  If, for example, there is an international issue that has effects on the southeastern countries in Asia, would the public sphere not merely be the public of those countries?  Similarly, if there is an issue like poverty that affects every country in the world, the public sphere would be expanded to the entire globe.  I believe it is the scope of the issue at hand that determines the scope of the public sphere.