Shaping a New World Order: Political Capacities and Policy Challenges

Abstract

ONE OF THE MOST NOTICED FEATURES OF OUR TIME IS that global problems are increasing at a faster rate than the evolution of the political capacities to manage them. This is not a new observation, or even a new condition. It has long been part of a pessimistic assessment of the prospects for modern industrial technological civilization that can be traced back to its origins, but has been particularly strong throughout the twentieth century. H. G. Wells's famous comment that ‘human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe’ is even more apposite to the contemporary mood than it was when first written. The spectre of communism no longer haunts Europe, but other spectres now haunt the global civilization which developed out of Europe. Some of the key trends of this global civilization threaten at best an era of mounting disorder and chaos in the world system, at worst the survival of the human species itself. The problems are increasing far faster than the ability to find solutions for them.