A New World Order

Now that my own book INTELLIGENCE for EARTH: Clarity, Diversity, Integrity, & Sustainability is at the printer am back into reading and really looking forward to catching up with the 25 books on my "to do" shelf. This one jumped to the top of the list at the recommendation of James Fallows, recently back from China and author of Blind Into Baghdad: America's War in Iraq among many other extraordinary books. This might have been a four because despite the gifted genius of the author--I use the term with admiration--the book is out of touch with two thirds or more of the relevant literature and all the non-elite movements that are doing precisely what she advocates but DISPLACING governments. HOWEVER, the recurring theme of multinational information-sharing and information-driven harmonization grabbed me by the throat. A handful of quoted phrases, generally citing others properly end-noted: + European agencies "are best described as 'information agencies.' Their job is to collect, coordination, and disseminate information needed by policymakers. + "Modes of regulation based on information and persuasion..." + "Debousee also sees the European information agencies as network creators and coordinators." + "In short, the ability to provide credible information and an accompanying reputation for credibility become sources of soft power." She acknowledged here that non-governmental organization networks are doing this now, and that government networks need to do more of this. + The following sentence moved me--the author has clearly derived on her own some very powerful ideas for which literatures exist outside the legal-governmental frame of reference--the bottom up multinational crowd-sourcing world--and this one sentence, idealistic as it may be, is so consistent with all that I believe in it more or less sealed my appreciation for this work: "The concept of regulation as a high flexible process of collective learning through dialog is precisely what animates the United Nation's new effort to improve corporate behavior..." While not connected to the "true cost" and ecological intelligence literatures, and under-stating all the corruption or data pathologies and information asymmetries that characterize the global arena, "collective learning through dialog" (and of course information sharing) grabs me as a gold nugget would. The book is also a five because the author is an innovator and a builder, not a typical ivory tower pontificator, and in her brand new political job as Director for Policy Planning at the Department of State (from mid 2009) she initiated the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review. She does not have the staff or the in-house knowledge to get that done right, but it is a good start, and could one day help the Secretary of State both implement the ideas in my own book and General Tony Zinni's book, The Battle for Peace: A Frontline Vision of America's Power and Purpose, perhaps by taking over the Open Source

What is new about the world in the 21st century? For Thomas L. Friedman its information networks that make the world flat for business and communication. Anne-Marie Slaughter makes the observation that governance too is being transformed by the telecommunication revolution. Because the barriers between us are being broken down it is possible for like minded people to share ideas and conclusions around the world. The book looks at Regulatory Agencies, Jurisprudence and finally Legislative Processes and observes transnational influences and accommodations. Slaughter notes that borrowing of laws and principles from one society to another is not new, but it has become much more common. She shows that a number of precedents in bioethics, copyright law and commercial rights are now drawing on extranational deliberations and decisions in order add clarity and come to decisions more rapidly. If a copyright case in Paris is similar to one in Washington a judge may cite the case to draw similar conclusions. Differences in definitions in such things as environmental legislation, labeling of goods and the establishing of standards are more easily handled between similar agencies rather than through top/down negotiation. The network of associations also extends to NGOs allowing relief, health care (ie: co-ordination during the SARS outbreak in 2003 or Bird Flu in 2006 - neither of which are covered in the book however the discussion in the book help illuminate both these situations) or standards organizations to co-operate with each other and to learn from each other's methods. Overall Prof. Slaughter considers this a good thing that we are now learning to learn from each other on a planetary scale. What she doesn't consider is the potential downside in outsourcing part of our decision making processes to others as she prefers to focus on the influences of like minded groups. Another concern that she does touch on briefly (around pp194) is that such decision making reflects a change in our conception of "democracy" - decisions are made by consensus but only through the effort of interested or concerned participants. I recommend this book for readers looking for examples of how transnational co-operation gets applied. The writing is warm and very accessible. For me it ties in nicely with the ideas of Duncan Watts (6 Degrees of Separation/Dynamic Networks) who's interest is in self organizing networks. Watts observes that networks usually contain focal nodes that act as bridges between subnets and thereby act as a conduit of information and ideas. With the growth of the Internet geography and time no longer limit the scope of these nets, so naturally they spread out horizontally between nations. Prof. Slaughter's writings are a timely observation of the phenomenon in the realm of international decision making. What is "new" about this world order is that it is not being imposed from above by single minded governments - it comes fro

This book is a must-read for any student of International Affairs. By providing historical and present-day examples of international and transnational relations among states, Dean Slaughter brilliantly lays the framework and provides justification for a new disaggregated, effective, and just world order. Both synoptic in organization and substantive throughout, this book will prove valuable to all readers regardless of political affiliation or school of thought.

This excellent, thought-provoking analysis covers a widespread but little studied shift in the way the world works. The advance of international communications, technology, economics and finance networks has had an unmistakable effect on business and industry. The ways states function has also changed - shifting the operation of the world order. Author Anne-Marie Slaughter, dean of Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, is on expert ground. She asserts that networks of financiers, regulators, judges and even legislators can solve problems that would be intractable if left only to traditional states and familiar international organizations. She provides many examples of such networks, notes the criticism against them and suggests norms to govern their conduct. Her book is not light reading. Readers need some familiarity with international organizations and institutions (sometimes cited by unexplained acronyms), but we highly recommend this book to sophisticated observers of international policy.