Creating Global Citizens and Responsible Leadership : A special theme issue of The Journal of Corporate Citizenship (Issue 49)

The special edition of The Journal of Corporate Citizenship on Creating Global Citizens and Responsible Leadership begs many questions in its title. The eight papers and one Turning Point that make up this issue represent a truly global response to the debate and all approach the task of analysis and understanding from different perspectives, and all tell different stories. Does the rise of the global citizen mean the demise, or at least the transformation, of the nation-state? Does global citizenship mean we place ourselves in the corporate giant hands of Amazon, Google and Facebook and accept the growing diminishment in personal space? Or, as the pieces in this special edition argue, is global citizenship about some aspiration to higher goals of liberation, global democracy, enlightenment and concern for issues such as climate change, poverty, human rights and governance? The conclusion that can be reached from reading the nine papers that make up the Special Issue is that global citizenship is an aspirational goal which would, if achieved, correct international injustices and deal with issues such as poverty, climate change and bad governance. Many of our national leaders are constantly fighting internecine tribal battles in their political parties or with their local electorates and have little time or space to raise their games to become globally responsible leaders. But, as all these articles attest, this is what is needed at this time in the history of humanity. Responsible leadership in government, business or civil society is founded on (responsible) global citizenship, which in turn rests on rethinking the global good society.