Abstract

REZENDE, Maria José. As Nações Unidas e a questão democrática hoje. Polít. cult. [online]. 2008, n.30, pp.91-118. ISSN 0188-7742.

The purpose of this paper is to scrutinize the Human Development Report (HDR) of 2002, the discussions carried out by the United Nations about democracy and its effects on human development. In order to do so, a documentary research was carried out to unveil the political meanings of the proposals, strategies and procedures indicated by the UNO for the deepening of democracy. It was verified that there are clear evidence, in the analyzed documents, that there is an increasing social disparity brought and potentialized by the current globalization process, and that it is necessary to find some ways of facing the problems stemmed from the increasing social inequality. However, the HDRs do not deal with the facing of inequality, but with some of its effects. Thus, all strategies are based on fighting absolute poverty, famine, illiteracy, etc.

Keywords : democracy; poverty; globalization; power; participation.

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