A New Global Order
Speaker: Slaughter, A. (New America)
Date: 10 July 2020
Speaker Session Summary
SMA hosted a speaker session presented by Dr. Anne-Marie Slaughter (CEO, New America) as a part of its SMA UK MoD Speaker Series. Dr. Slaughter presented a new framework for a global order that is more focused on connecting governments and non-government actors, and better mobilizing the resources that each state and region has. Dr. Slaughter first briefly outlined the history of how our world arrived at the current global order that we operate on today, which emerged in 1945 with the end of World War II and the induction of five permanent members into the Security Council that became responsible for international peace and security, as well as mobilizing the world in response to threat or acts of aggression. Dr. Slaughter suggested that since 1945, this system of global order has declined in effectiveness, as the proliferation of global institutions since the Cold War has led to the emergence of many non-government actors to create their own networks and regional groups. These informal networks connect government actors with businesses, civic organizations, faith groups, and other influential non-state actors to more effectively allocate resources and tackle global issues. These informal groups operate alongside the hierarchical, bureaucratic, “vertically organized” formal institutions like the WHO or UN that may not be as effective solving those same problems due to their degrees of separation from the ordinary citizen. Dr. Slaughter proposed a solution to help move from the current messy system of traditional institutions operating alongside the informal groups driven by powerful global actors that do not have formal status in international law. She recommendedthat US decision makers take these hierarchical international organizations and compress them into global or regional “impact hubs,” composed of both government actors and a large set of interconnected networks that engage all other actors with the government, such as businesses, philanthropic organizations, and civil society, scientists. The hubs would be a steering committee for many other sub-hubs and actors and would be evaluated on the basis of performance metrics to determine measurable progress towards tangible goals. The hubs would also be funded in part by governments, but also by private capital, and the metrics would also help people better determine where to donate their money to effective solutions. Finally, Dr. Slaughter discussed how Ministries of Defense fit into this vision for a new global order. Militaries have a lot of experience with network mapping and network theory and are therefore skilled in strategically creating or severing connections. She disputed, however, that defense ministries have traditionally approached global problem solving with a “meet and defeat” mindset. In order for her new vision of a global order to be effective, Defense needs to move from deterrence to resilience and from winning to withstanding. Dr. Slaughter also stressed the importance of bringing civilian and non-state actors into conversations about security and defense. Many of the issues tackled today cannot be won in the traditional sense (e.g., terrorism), and defense ministries need to build capacity to withstand in a way that dramatically reduces the threat. Considering defense as a part of this network of security broadens the focus strictly from national security to global security, and allows an individual to not only have life but live the way that they choose to.
Speaker Session Recording
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