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Forging Networked Security in a Nobody-in-Charge World

30/12/2010

There is much discussion of a 'multipolar' world in which great power consortia will manage global affairs. Reality will be different. The evolving international order is less likely to be shaped by great power condominium than driven by in-between peoples and spaces in a nobody-in-charge world. In an era of more fluid alignments, secondary states and non-state actors are setting their own agendas, even as the nature of many regional and global challenges has changed. State-centric approaches must give room to network-based solutions providing more effective interactions among a broader range of actors, including governments, the private sector and non-governmental organisations.