About the empty chair at the Noble Peace Prize ceremony, The Australian columnist Rowan Callick writes: The ripples of this extraordinary event will keep spreading through our world for months and years.
And WikiLeaks have exposed us not only to the hidden world of diplomacy but have also come as a premonition of the world that is in store for us and the US. This incident successfully demonstrated what the world will be like when information technology completes a new phenomenon never seen in history: Super-empowerment of the individual.
A NEW WORLD ORDER IN THE MAKING
Much prognostication is floating around about the situation when China takes its due place in the World Order and lot of cacophony is heard over its habit of avoiding its place currently. But, no serious thought seems to be given to the new world being created by this super-empowering of individuals. Though some intellectuals in the West believe that in future the “East” and the “West” may not mean much but the time frame they comfortably want to believe in for this change to emerge out of present world order is too stretched.
As Thomas Friedman observed in his column of the The New York Times, these individuals have been super-empowered to such a degree that they can actually challenge any hierarchy from a global bank to a nation state – as individuals.
And, it’s not merely an issue of privacy in Facebook. It’s about secrecy, power, money and governance itself.
RISE OF THE ANONYMOUS
The attacks on the websites that delinked themselves from the WikiLeaks website, as claimed by Julian Assange, are probably not directed by him or his organization. And specifically because these super-empowered individuals are not controlled by one organization, are not driven by one agenda and are not working in a particular style – the world has to think of a way to deal with them in future.
Easy, quick and wide access to information along with the ease of communication between individuals of common interest has brought the world to this stage. Such individuals or groups, who always seem to be a step or two ahead of the regimes, will be a challenge to the system of governance that is in place today.
The linear extrapolation of the present world order to the future by the redundant, over-confident and arrogant governments of today will help these groups to come up with much more surprises in days to come. There is no guarantee to the fact that they will not collectively push themselves beyond the line that is bounded by the definition of anarchists if continuously motivated by impunity.
Easy, quick and wide access to information along with the ease of communication between individuals of common interest has brought the world to this stage. Such individuals or groups, who always seem to be a step or two ahead of the regimes, will be a challenge to the system of governance that is in place today.
Alvin Toffler could predict this in his book Powershift published two decades ago, “Clearly we are headed for chaos if new international laws aren’t written and new agencies created to enforce them.” And luckily for the anonymous, the world hasn’t listened to his wisdom even after 20 years; even after a live Demonstration; even when the Chaos he talked about shouts right on our face today!
DILEMMAS OF THE FADING SUPERPOWER
As is obvious from the turn of events, the United States is the nation that is going to be most affected by this change but it will be too naïve to assume that the challenges are limited to America only. The anonymous does not carry a flag of any nation and hence its targeting philosophy will not be bounded by nationalities. But, since it is not an imminent threat, the rest of the world believes conveniently that it is not a threat to them at all.
And unilaterally, however hard the US tries, the solution will evade it.
There was a time in the history of the superpower when Bill Clinton could declare to the United Nations, “The United States will act multilaterally when possible but unilaterally when necessary”.
But, not any more.
Now the problem and the circumstances do not allow this. And this leaves the world in a strange situation.
The US is in a situation now when defiance can be sensed in the body language of the rest of the world however hard it may try to keep its leadership unscathed. And the very reason for this, the rising power of the East that’s poised to challenge it, does not want to claim leadership even after much coaxing from the West. China is going by the ‘24 character strategy’ of Den Xiaoping – “Observe calmly, Secure our position; cope with affairs calmly; hide our capacities and bide our time; be good at maintaining a low profile and never claim leadership”.
Thus it implies for the United States that the era of arrogance has ended. Multilateralism is not a choice of convenience anymore and this is a beginning of a time when only a futuristic persuasive diplomacy can make some significant difference.
THE METAMORPHOSIS IN THE OFFING
But, the possible rise of anarchism is a reality, not only for the United States but for the whole world. And the world cannot afford to leave it to America only to deal with it.
Looking at the path of evolution of governance, it is not hard to realize the natural trail of this shift. We are today feeling an alteration in the way people communicate, make money and express dissentions. This swing is creating a world that is quite different from what we have experience in governing till now. In short, a completely new system is taking shape. And it calls for a congruence between the way we live (communicate, make wealth and exert power) and the way we govern ourselves.
Legal restructuring, global co-operation and technological collaboration at the right time, that is today, can save us from much unwelcome crisis in future. Possibly, it will be the Globalization of Governance.
As for the arrogant Superstar of the world, a little foresight in planning, flexibility in action and an accommodative strategy may still save some grace before it fades completely.
dinkar.nepal@yahoo.com
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