State of the 21st Century World - Part 1

Heading into the last two years of the first decade of the 21^st century, global problems weigh on our collective consciousness. J. F. Rischard (2002), former World Bank vice-president for Europe cites twenty contemporary global problems (p. 66).

Table 1: Rishard’s 20 Global Issues

Sharing our planet:Issues involving the global commons	Sharing our humanity: Issues requiring a global commitment	Sharing our rule book: Issues needing a global regulatory approach
Global warming	Massive step-up in the fight against poverty	Reinventing taxation for the 21st century
Biodiversity and ecosystem losses	Peacekeeping, conflict preventions, combating terrorism	Biotechnology rules
Fisheries depletion	Education for all	Global financial architecture
Deforestation	Global infectious diseases	Illegal drugs
Water deficits	Digital divide	Trade, investment, and completion rules
Maritime safety and pollution	Natural disaster prevention and mitigation	Intellectual property rights
		E-commerce rules
		International labor and migration rules

These problems are by-products of two major forces (a) demographic explosion and (b) the new world economy. According to Rischard these major forces will introduce unprecedented stresses on the world. At the same time, the technological and economic revolutions fueling the new world economy will introduce unprecedented opportunities (p. 7). Nevertheless, Rischard asserts that, “for many urgent global issues the turnaround time is now, in the next two decades, not in the next half century” (p. 200). Additionally, he argues that there exists “an undeniable failure of the entire international setup and the world’s nation states at the task of fast and effective global problem-solving” (p. 201). This is the case because the exploding population causes an exponentiality of scarcity. Simultaneously, the new economy offers an exponentiality of plenitude. Together these forces create a crisis of complexity, because the rate of change exceeds traditional institutions capacity to change rapidly (p.38).

Although Rischard insists on a 20-year window of opportunity to deal with these global issues, he does not specify the consequences of failure to address them. He does offer a solution. Rischard calls for a move from hierarchal government to a system of networked governance. Central this concept is the creation of Global Issues Networks (GIN). Each GIN addresses a specific global problem. The composition of the GIN is comprised of three types of partners: (a) national governments concerned by or experienced in the issue, (b) international civil society organizations who can contribute individuals with deep knowledge of the issue, and (c) businesses that have both knowledge of the issue and the ability to represent other business (p. 172).

In summary, Rischard uses twenty global issues which he admits is not an exhaustive list, to call attention to the crises of complexity caused by exponential growth in world population and creation of wealth by the new world economy. Fueling this crisis is the inability traditional nation-states and other international governance institutions to keep pace with the rate of world change. Rischard’s work appears grounded on three assumptions (a) a general sense of global crisis of complexity, (b) a perceived inability of nation-states and other international governance organizations to address the sense of global crisis and (c) and an implicit failure of leadership (national and international) to effect the necessary changes in nation-states and international governance organizations.

Reference

Rischard, J. F. (2002). High noon: 20 global problems 20 years to solve them. New York: Basic Books.