Liberal International: the cost of everything, the value of nothing?

Ah yes, Liberal International. Seventy years of bringing together liberals from around the world, but for what? I had reached Andorra, and was thus able to consider the question in situ, so to speak.

And it is an interesting question. Our membership of the ALDE Party has some practical value, especially whilst we remain in the European Union, in terms of allowing input into policy making, and the pooling of knowledge and experience within political models similar to our own. On the other hand, the tangible benefits of being able to interact with liberals from West Africa, or of policy making when there is little means of delivering it internationally are harder to discern.

There isn't an awful lot of money available, so much outreach is directed through such organisations as the Westminster Foundation for Democracy and the Friedrich Naumann Stiftung, whose funding is provided by their respective states.

Yet, whilst the benefits to a party like the Liberal Democrats aren't immediately obvious, there is no doubt that providing a forum for emerging liberal parties in the developing nations is of tremendous value to them. Knowing that they have sister parties in the major democracies, and the platform that Liberal International offers, allows them to accrue credibility in the eyes of their local communities, and acts as a shield against the worst acts of sometimes corrupt, sometimes authoritarian ruling administrations.

Liberal International also offers a means to bring regional groups together, and this is particularly true in Africa, where the African Liberal Network is increasingly providing opportunities to exchange best practice, encourage solidarity and develop new activists, especially from under-represented groups.

If you believe that one of the moral obligations upon developed democracies is to provide a beacon to the emerging ones, then paying our annual subscription to Liberal International is one of the easiest, and most obvious means of doing our share. And, from a personal perspective, it reminds me that, no matter how disheartening our own politics can be, one cannot fail to be inspired by the struggles of some of our sister parties in places such as Cambodia and Nicaragua.

It is easy to dwell on the cost of our membership, and wonder if the money couldn't be better spent on more campaign tools at home. But it must be nobler to consider the value of our membership in terms of what it enables others to do towards building stronger democracies and creating stability in areas of volatility.

A little light reading for the International Relations Committee...

I am not really a policy wonk. Yes, I take an interest in it, but I am increasingly of the view that, in an ever more fast-moving world, a coherent philosophy is possibly more useful than an ultra-detailed manifesto.

And so, this weekend, I and my fellow Federal International Relations Committee members are preparing for a meeting on Monday to consider the draft Liberal Manifesto, due to be adopted in the Liberal International Congress in Andorra in May. The manifesto has been circulated, a document designed to define how liberalism will face the world in the coming years. That looks like a big ask to me.

So, what do I think, prior to reading the document? Well, here are some of the things that I'll be looking for...

Government as enabler - as a liberal, I feel that government is there to enable people to improve themselves and to live the life of their choice, balancing the freedom of individuals against the needs of the communities they inhabit. In other words, not a free-for-all, but a means of protecting the citizen from those who would deny opportunities and freedoms.

That's a bit technical, but then liberalism is about competing complexities and finding ways to referee them.

Collaboration across state borders - it may be that we're seeing the death throes of the sovereign nation state. In truth, nations aren't sovereign in the old sense, able to define their own destiny in the way that they once could. There are too many inter-dependencies, too many ways in which the acts of one nation impinge or impact on the affairs of another. Finding ways to bring countries together to solve solutions, ways that allow for transparency, accountability and citizen involvement, should be at the forefront of a new liberal agenda.

Free and fair trade - I believe in a global economy, and as someone with links to the developing world, I want to see the benefits of a market economy spread to the world's poorest. That may mean an acknowledgement that, in relative terms, we in the West are going to be poorer or, more accurately, less rich. We may be better off than we were, but the likelihood is that poorer countries could grow faster than we do.

Those are just three of the things that, I think, matter. And yes, issues like migration will be a factor - it couldn't be otherwise - but I think that they represent three pillars that you could build a manifesto around.

We'll see what my colleagues think in less than forty-eight hours...

Far, far away, on a planet where Liberals usually win

Ros and I are in Vancouver, the main city, although not the capital, of British Columbia, where Ros is leading our delegation to Liberal International - I think that that makes me the delegation... It isn't a long trip in terms of time, although the 8 hours and 35 minutes spent on the plane made it feel like a lifetime.

After a long day's travel, we're safely ensconced in our roomy hotel room here at the Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites, Vancouver Downtown, and I can see the nearby mountains, still with some snow on them, from the window. My schedule is somewhat lighter than Ros's - a bit of gentle shopping, a bit of 'touristical activity' (I think that means sightseeing), and a few meals in nice restaurants.

British Columbia is, in political terms, something of a two-party state, the Liberals and the New Democratic Party dominating the scene. That dominance is distorted by the use of the 'first past the post' electoral system, which lead to a bizarre result a few years ago when the Liberals gained about 60% of the vote, but took 77 out of 79 seats on the Provincial Legislature.

I hope to report on events as they take place this weekend, the room has free wi-fi, my BlackBerry works, and I'm fully connected up, so further news as it comes in, as they say...