The Unfinished Global Revolution

Book excerpt: The Unfinished Global Revolution is a front-line view of the challenges of leadership and the importance of creating greater global cooperation. The former United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, Mark Malloch-Brown diagnoses the central global predicament of the 21st century. As we have become more integrated, we have also become less governed. National governments are no longer equipped to address complex global issues. From climate change to poverty, international organizations have not yet been empowered to step into the breach. The Unfinished Global Revolution chronicles how over the past few decades, domestic problems - from unemployment to environmental distress - have international roots. Increasingly, ad hoc arrangements between NGOs, civil society and the private sector are filling in the gap created by the failures of individual governments. Malloch-Brown urges us to embrace these evermore powerful international institutions and the values needed to underpin a truly globalist agenda - the rule of law, human rights, and greater opportunity for all. Now is the moment for creative statesmanship to form a new approach to global politics, one that will produce stronger international institutions that revive rather than replace national governments. Malloch-Brown has been at the centre of recent world events. Drawing on his experiences at the frontlines of international development - from Cambodia to Darfur, Washington to UN headquarters - Malloch-Brown provides a personal, on-the-ground view of seemingly abstract challenges and forecasts the way forward in global politics. This book should be required reading for all policy makers, politicians and concerned citizens of the world.