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A New World Order
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A New World Order

Anne-Marie Slaughter
Princeton UP, 2004
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Visionary
  • For Beginners

Recommendation

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 getAbstract.com highly recommends this book to sophisticated observers of international policy.

Summary

Networks and the Global Order

Like business people, stock traders and even criminals, governments now rely on networks to achieve their objectives. Law enforcement agencies cooperate on investigations through formal and informal networks. Financial ministers and central bankers work jointly in networks such as the G-20, the G-8, the International Organization of Securities Commissioners (IOSCO) and others. Environmental officials, justices and legislators have networks. There are even networks of government networks. Networks have several advantages:

  • They allow regulators to develop better intelligence about the activities of transnational organizations such as corporations, lobbying groups and even criminal gangs. This enables regulators to respond with timely, well-coordinated action.
  • They help members get to know each other and learn to trust each other.
  • They provide a forum for swapping information about best practices.
  • They often offer various forms of assistance to members.

Governments now confront cross-border problems, so they need cross-border solutions. Air and water pollution do not respect national ...

About the Author

Anne-Marie Slaughter is dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and the current president of the American Society of International Law.

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