ABSTRACT
The project of a Global Parliament of Mayors is about creating a legitimate political authority that can add some governance capacity and regulatory power beyond and besides existing global institutions, which are all legitimized by national member states. Benjamin Barber as a person was pivotal in combining academic interest, political networking and pragmatic projects which is why the Global Parliament of Mayors can exist. A Global Parliament of Mayors could be the political expression of urbanity on a global scale, as the General Assembly of the United Nations is expressing nationality on the global scale. If the world system and global markets are increasingly structured by networked cities, one can immediately see the democratic deficit created by a one-sided focus on territorialized gatekeeping. A new agenda for world politics has to be developed by giving global challenges a new political framing, which involves developing a collective urban mission statement and common norms and policies.
