James Bernard Quilligan

= advocate for Global Common Goods and a global commons policy framework via the Global Commons Trust [1]

Intro: Setting a P2P Context

What is the Global Commons without P2P? From what I have read this seems like a question Mr. Quilligan is constantly in the process of answering.

Mr. Quilligan's work, in a certain sense, is poking around in the darkness looking for the light that has shone on all successful initiatives throughout history. In short, mutual trust and respect undergirds an environment where we can all exceed expectations with regard to practical, insightful, and pragmatic use of global resources. When looking at something as amorphous as 'global accountability' it's important to have a context from which to start, and a set of understandings that allow us to continually reconstruct our foundation as necessary.

You might ask yourself why this makes Mr. Quilligan's work peer-to-peer. In one sense, any system that can be built from the ground up using first principles, and by anyone, is peer-2-peer. Much of the proposed systems to be found on the Global Commons Trust site follow this methodology and quite a bit more.

It is possible to discover these sentiments and more in the far reaching vision in his Global Commons Trust.

Biography

Narrative

"James Bernard Quilligan has been an analyst and administrator in the field of international development since 1975. He has served as policy advisor and writer for many international politicians and leaders, including Pierre Trudeau, François Mitterand, Edward Heath, Julius Nyerere, Olof Palme, Willy Brandt, Jimmy Carter, and His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan of Jordan.

Quilligan was a policy advisor and press secretary for the Brandt Commission (1978-1984) and the co-founder and policy development director of the Coalition for the Global Commons (2007-2008). He is presently Managing Director of the Centre for Global Negotiations and Chairman for the Secretariat of Global Commons Trust, which develops innovative means of preserving and restoring value -- beyond business and government -- through people’s social, cultural, intellectual, genetic and natural resource commons. He is also collaborating with Prince El Hassan and several United Nations agencies on global commons issues.

Quilligan has been an economic consultant for government agencies in Mexico, Argentina, Ecuador, Brazil, Bolivia, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Norway, Sweden, Ivory Coast, Algeria, Tanzania, Kuwait, India, Thailand, Indonesia, South Korea, Japan, Australia, Canada, and the United States. In addition, he has served as an advisor for many United Nations programs and international development organizations."

Details

PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND

James Quilligan has been an analyst and administra tor in the field of international development since 1975. He has served as policy advisor and writer for many international politicians and leaders, including Pierre Trudeau, François Mitterrand, Edward Heath, Julius Nyerere, Lopez Portillo, Olof Palme, Willy Brandt, and Jimmy Carter.

He has been an economic consultant for government agencies in 26 countries, including the United States. He has also served as an advisor for several United Nations programs and international development organizations.

Quilligan’s articles, under his own name, or as a ghostwriter for others, have appeared in the International Herald Tribune, the Manchester Guardian, the Christian Science Monitor, the Washington Post, Newsweek, Der Spiegel, the Economist, World Press Review, Tikkun, and other books and publications. He is also a musician and composer.

EDUCATION

Quilligan received BA degrees in Philosophy and Literature from Kent State University (1973), an MA in Literature from Michigan State University (1975), an MA in Political Campaign Management from Kent State Uni versity (1985), and completed all coursework but thesis toward an MA in Communication from the Annen berg School of Communication, University of Pennsylvania (1987).

THE BRANDT COMMISSION

From 1978 to 1984, Quilligan worked with the Brandt Commission, a distinguished group of world leaders headed by former German Chancellor Willy Brandt. The commission conducted what may have been the most comprehensive ‘state of the world’ report and proposed a series of mea sures to reduce the vast and unjust economic discrepancies between the developed and developing worlds. Their first report was published in 1980 by MIT Press as North-South: A Program for Survival, and was followed by another report Common Crisis, published in xxxx. A summit of world leaders met on the heels of the Brandt Commission (Cancun, 1981) but failed to implement the recommendations, and now the majority of the world's economies are in what can only be described as “critical condition”.

THE CENTRE FOR GLOBAL NEGOTIATIONS

The resulting chaos has fueled age-old tensions, inspired virulent acts of terrorism, and ignited new wars around the globe. Because it is even more urgently needed now than it was 25 years ago, the Brandt plan has been updated for today's world, and has been re-introduced by James Quilligan as The Brandt Equation: 21st Century Blue print for the New Global Economy, available in its entirely at <www.Brandt21Forum.info>. From 2002 to the present, Quilligan has presented this information to a wide range of audiences, particularly in the US and Canada.

Due to the vast scope of the work, Quilligan has associated himself with an expanding group of dedicated and skilled co-workers who, in 2004, formed the non-profit, 501(c)(3) Centre for Global Negotiations. The name derives from Willy Brandt’s conviction that: The aim of ‘global negotiations’ is international consensus. This means that no single problem, energy or debt or food, for example, would be viewed in isolation without considering its direct implications on the full global agenda of interconnected issues.”

THE COMMISSION FOR AFRICA

In xxxx British Prime Minister Tony Blair and activist-musician Bob Geldof launched the Commission for Africa, which included active politicians and Heads of State from around the world. The commission represented a new attempt at implementing Brandt's visionary plan, and Quilligan was asked to serve as an advisor. Their report, Our Common Interest, formed the agenda for discussion at the 2005 G-8 Summit in Scotland and resulted in ………

GLOBAL MARSHALL PLAN

In 2006 Quilligan was asked to serve as the US Coordinator for the European-based Global Marshall Plan Initiative, a group of distinguished leaders in many fields who have been working diligently toward the implementation of an action plan to end international poverty, promote development, restore the environment, create alternative sources of finance, and restructure the international economy in support of sustainable development. Their plan is inspired by the American ‘Marshall Plan’, a widely acclaimed emergency relief and reconstruction program from 1948-51 that reduced poverty significantly and led to economic recovery throughout Western Europe during the postwar period.

The main focus of the Centre for Global Negotiations and the Global Marshall Plan Initiative during this next period will be helping to organize the Coalition for the Global Commons – an international consultation process that is engaging partners across the world in the development of a common global action plan. The dialogue and feeback process is open to all leaders, experts and the public, creating a wide circle of input for the development of a consultation text. The results of this consultation round will be presented at a conference of internaional stakeholders in 2010, the Convention on the Global Commons. Quilligan is serving as Policy Development Coordinator of this coalition.

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Quilligan has given over 50 radio, TV and print interviews, including BBC and CBC radio; national, syndicated and local programs in the US and Canada.

Publications

Articles in Kosmos Journal

‘Commonly Asked Questions’ http://www.kosmosjournal.org/kjo2/involve/global-commons/index.shtml

'Making the Great Adjustment' http://www.kosmosjournal.org/kjo2/library/kosmos-articles/making-great-adjustment.shtml

'Global Common Goods' http://www.kosmosjournal.org/kjo2/library/kosmos-articles/global-commons-goods.shtml

'The Commons and Integral Capital' http://www.kosmosjournal.org/kjo2/library/kosmos-articles/commons-and-integral-capital.shtml

‘People Sharing Resources’ http://www.kosmosjournal.org/kjo2/library/kosmos-articles/people-sharing-resources.shtml

‘The Commons of Mind, Life & Matter’ http://www.kosmosjournal.org/kjo2/library/kosmos-articles/the-commons-of-mind.shtml

Articles in The Huffington Post

‘Stimulate This!’ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christiana-wyly/stimulate-this_b_221882.html

‘The Juggling Contest’ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christiana-wyly/the-juggling-contest----b_b_225347.html

‘Property Rights to the Sky?’ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christiana-wyly/waxman-markey-property-ri_b_226862.html

More information

Internal Links

• John D. Schmidt and James Quilligan on the Commons and Integral Capital (audio)