Global Governance

An increasing number of complex issues on the global agenda is outpacing the ability of international organizations and national governments to address them, according to a report released today by the U.S. National Intelligence Council and the European Union's Institute for Security Studies.

The report concludes that global governance "is at a critical juncture," calling for "more effective global governance" to address threats like "ethnic conflicts, infectious disease, and terrorism as well as a new generation of global challenges including climate change, energy security, food and water scarcity, international migration flows and new technologies."

The report, "Global Governance 2025," is a follow-on to the NIC's 2008 report, "Global Trends 2008." It is the first joint, unclassified report developed between the National Intelligence Council and a non-U.S. organization, and involved consultations with government officials, media representatives, business, academic, NGO and think tank leaders in developed countries around the world.

According to the report, the "shift to a multipolar world, particularly the shift in power toward nonstate actors," complicates the prospects for effective global governance over the next 15 years, “making more effective global governance critical to addressing global problems.

The authors of the report note that global governance is often "seen as a Western concept," but multilateral institutions are critical because of their ability to "deliver public goods that summits, nonstate actors, and regional frameworks cannot supply . . . multiple and diverse governance frameworks, however flexible, probably are not going to be sufficient to keep pace with the looming number of transnational and global challenges absent extensive institutional reforms and innovations."

The report includes hypothetical scenarios that illustrate potential trajectories of the international system as it confronts global challenges over the next 15 years.