If Mayors Ruled the World: Dysfunctional Nations, Rising Cities

Description

In the face of the most perilous challenges of our time—climate change, terrorism, poverty, and trafficking of drugs, guns, and people—the nations of the world seem paralyzed. The problems are too big, too interdependent, too divisive for the nation-state. Is the nation-state, once democracy's best hope, today democratically dysfunctional? Obsolete? The answer, says Benjamin Barber in this highly provocative and original book, is yes. Cities and the mayors who run them can do and are doing a better job.   Barber cites the unique qualities cities worldwide share: pragmatism, civic trust, participation, indifference to borders and sovereignty, and a democratic penchant for networking, creativity, innovation, and cooperation. He demonstrates how city mayors, singly and jointly, are responding to transnational problems more effectively than nation-states mired in ideological infighting and sovereign rivalries. Featuring profiles of a dozen mayors around the world—courageous, eccentric, or both at once—If Mayors Ruled the World presents a compelling new vision of governance for the coming century. Barber makes a persuasive case that the city is democracy’s best hope in a globalizing world, and great mayors are already proving that this is so. Contents Acknowledgments I. Why Cities Should Govern Globally Chapter 1. If Mayors Ruled The World Why They Should And How They Already Do Profile 1. Mayor Of The World Michael Bloomberg Of New York Chapter 2. The Land Of Lost Content Virtue And Vice In The Life Of The City Profile 2. The Incorruptible As Artist Leoluca Orlando Of Palermo Chapter 3. The City And Democracy From Independent Polis To Interdependent Cosmopolis Profile 3. The Efficient Jester Boris Johnson Of London Chapter 4. Mayors Rule! Is This What Democracy Looks Like? Profile 4. Governing In Partnership Wolfgang Schuster Of Stuttgart Chapter 5. Interdependent Cities Local Nodes And Global Synapses Profile 5. The Founder As President And The President As Mayor Lee Kuan Yew And Tony Tan Of The City-State Of Singapore Chapter 6. Cities Without Sovereignty The Uses Of Powerlessness Profile 6. The (Not Quite) Indestructible Yury Luzhkov Of Moscow II. How It Can Be Done Chapter 7. “Planet Of Slums” The Challenge Of Urban Inequality Profile 7. Megacity Headaches Ayodele Adewale Of Lagos Chapter 8. City, Cure Thyself! Mitigating In Equality Profile 8. Her Honor The Mayor Sheila Dikshit Of Delhi Chapter 9. Smart Cities In A Virtual World Linking Cities With Digital Technology Profile 9. The Peacemakers Teddy Kollek Of Jerusalem And Qadoura Moussa Of Jenin Chapter 10. Cultural Cities In A Multicultural World The Arts Of Interdependence Profile 10. Civic Comedy And The Art Of Citizenship Antanas Mockus Of Bogotá Chapter 11. Citizens Without Borders Glocal Civil Society And Confederalism Profile 11. The Glocal Community Organizer Park Won-Soon Of Seoul Chapter 12. A Global Parliament Of Mayors Bottom-Up Democracy And The Road To Interdependence Notes Index