Endangered arctic - starving polar bear, 2015. Andreas Weith/ Wikicommons. Some rights reserved.Can we manage the globalized world we have created? Every day seems to bring new evidence to the contrary. From the wars in the Middle East, to nuclear tensions in East Asia, to an ongoing migration crisis, to the looming threats of pandemics and financial shocks, to the growing danger of climate change, our ability to meet global challenges is falling short.
In our 2013 book Gridlock, written with Kevin Young, we argued that these instances of multilateral breakdown were not just a string of bad news, but products of the same historical process. The “success” of the postwar order in building a managed form of globalization allowed interdependence to deepen. New countries joined the global economy, companies expanded multinationally, and once distant people and places found themselves increasingly – and, on average, beneficially – intertwined.
But the virtuous cycle between deepening interdependence and expanding global governance could not last because it set in motion trends (see Box 1) that ultimately undermined its effectiveness. Increasing multipolarity reflected the success of bringing millions out of poverty, but also increased the number and diversity of voices that had to agree on global issues. Deepening interdependence brought many benefits, but also generated harder, more complex problems, “intermestic” issues that penetrate deep into domestic affairs. As international organizations expanded to address these new challenges, many found themselves locked into sub-optimal policies and decision-making rules that could not adapt to changing circumstances.
