Alternative Voices

Abstract

The chapter details the growing inputs for UN deliberations from two distinct sets of “voices”: from within emerging powers that formerly were absent or largely hidden; and from for-profit businesses. The first part examines the political and economic changes brought about by rising and emerging powers that are altering the landscape for how to approach the pillars of UN activity. The second part reflects the arrival on the UN’s stage of TNCs, which formerly had only cameo roles despite their weight in the global economy because of their perceived role, within the popular rhetoric from the Global South, as exploiters and explanations for poverty. Both emerging powers and business are long-ignored partners that bring resources, expertise, new technologies, and energy to international problem-solving and to the Third UN; they also have challenged the multilateral system and led to calls for a new architecture of global governance.