Democratizing Global Governance to Advance Health Rights and Global Justice

In the face of obvious limitations of being bounded by the nation-state in terms of ethical responsibilities and legal accountability of states and non-state actors that operate across the globe, it is imperative to extend the social contract to the trans-boundary activities of states, and private entities under their effective control. Some proposals for global health governance suggest variations on strengthening global government through existing global institutions. I argue broader network-based, experimentalist governance structures likely will be more democratic and nimble in addressing global inequity. Giving examples of proposals, I assert such an experimentalist and networked model of governance and advocacy calls for different funding, different organizational structures, different institutional mandates and different power relationships between North and South.