ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to explore the intertwining or interpenetration of globalism and cultural or local diversity. It examines the notion of global governance as it appears from a variety of prominent contemporary perspectives. The chapter focuses on the dimension of cultural diversity, with an eye to the issue how diverse cultures and societies respond to the process of globalization. It also shows the correlation of globalism and diversity by concentrating on some salient features of the emerging global "civil society". The goal of global governance – of some kind of "bonding" among countries and peoples – has been a long-standing human aspiration. Apart from Immanuel Kant, the goal has been articulated and practically promoted by a host of intellectuals and statesmen, from the Abbe de Saint-Pierre to Woodrow Wilson and beyond. Among contemporary philosophers, a strongly normative and future-oriented vision of global governance – though one not severed from past developments – has been advanced by Stephen Toulmin.
