Gridlock

The issues that increasingly dominate the 21st century cannot be solved by any single country acting alone, no matter how powerful. To manage the global economy, prevent runaway environmental destruction, reign in nuclear proliferation, or confront other global challenges, we must cooperate. But at the same time, our tools for global policymaking - chiefly state-to-state negotiations over treaties and international institutions - have broken down. The result is gridlock, which manifests across areas via a number of common mechanisms. The rise of new powers representing a more diverse array of interests makes agreement more difficult. The problems themselves have also grown harder as global policy issues penetrate ever more deeply into core domestic concerns. Existing institutions, created for a different world, also lock-in pathological decision-making procedures and render the field ever more complex. All of these processes - in part a function of previous, successful efforts at cooperation - have led global cooperation to fail us even as we need it most. Ranging over the main areas of global concern, from security to the global economy and the environment, this book examines these mechanisms of gridlock and pathways beyond them. It is written in a highly accessible way, making it relevant not only to students of politics and international relations but also to a wider general readership.

The issues that increasingly dominate the 21st century cannot be solved by any single country acting alone, no matter how powerful. To manage the global economy, prevent runaway environmental destruction, reign in nuclear proliferation, or confront other global challenges, we must cooperate. But at the same time, our tools for global policymaking - chiefly state-to-state negotiations over treaties and international institutions - have broken down.The result is gridlock, which manifests across areas via a number of common mechanisms. The rise of new powers representing a more diverse array of interests makes agreement more difficult. The problems themselves have also grown harder as global policy issues penetrate ever more deeply into core domestic concerns. Existing institutions, created for a different world, also lock-in pathological decision-making procedures and render the field ever more complex. All of these processes - in part a function of previous, successful efforts at cooperation - have led global cooperation to fail us even as we need it most.Ranging over the main areas of global concern, from security to the global economy and the environment, this book examines these mechanisms of gridlock and pathways beyond them. It is written in a highly accessible way, making it relevant not only to students of politics and international relations but also to a wider general readership.

Figures viiiBoxes and Tables xAbbreviations xiiPreface xviiIntroduction 1The Postwar Legacy 4Overview 91 Gridlock 14Building the Postwar Order 18Explaining the Postwar Order: Hegemony versusInstitutions 21The Effect of the Postwar Order: Self-ReinforcingInterdependence 25Roads to Gridlock 34Conclusion 482 Security 49Introduction 49CHANGES IN THE NATURE AND FORM OF SECURITY 51The Interstate System 51Postwar Developments: From the UN to the Cold War 55Institutional Developments and Successes 65Shifting Principles of Global Order 72Post-9/11 Global Security 81GRIDLOCK: DYNAMICS OF INSTITUTIONAL DEFICIT AND MALFUNCTION84The UN Security Council and the Disarmament Regime 85Complex Intermestic Issues 93Paradigm Shift or Realist Status Quo? 105Conclusion 1123 Economy 113Introduction 113THE EVOLUTION OF GLOBAL ECONOMIC GOVERNANCE 116The Imperial System and Its Demise 116Bretton Woods and the Creation of Multilateral EconomicInstitutions 120Self-Reinforcing Interdependence and the End of Bretton Woods130GRIDLOCK IN GLOBAL ECONOMIC GOVERNANCE 152Gridlock in Multilateral Trade Negotiations 154Gridlock in Global Financial Governance 162Global Financial Governance Reform 171Conclusion: A Reembedded Global Market? 1824 Environment 189Introduction: A Zanjera for the Globe? 189GLOBALIZATION OF THE COMMONS AND PARTIAL GLOBALIZATION OF THEIRMANAGEMENT 193Industrial Globalization and the Origins of Modern EnvironmentalGovernance 194Postwar Internationalization 198The Modern Environmental Movement 201An Environmental "Bretton Woods"? The StockholmCompromise and UNEP 206Early Successes, Lingering Challenges 215A New Foundational Moment? From Compromise to Gridlock at Rio226ENVIRONMENTAL GRIDLOCK 232Self-Reinforcing Interdependence and the Global Environment232Forests 237Climate Change 251Conclusion: Increasingly Linked Problems, IncreasinglyFragmented Governance 2695 Beyond Gridlock? 273From Self-Reinforcing Interdependence to Gridlock 276Trends toward Deepening Gridlock 279National Trends and Gridlock 286The Changed Global Landscape 296Pathways through Gridlock 300Politics beyond Gridlock 306Notes 312References 319Index 350