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On November 7-8, Beijing hosted a session of the Contemporary World Multilateral Dialogue 2013 jointly held by China Center for Contemporary World Studies, China Energy Fund Committee and China Foundation for Peace and Development. Having addressed the forum on multilateral efforts to build up efficiency of global and regional governance, RIAC Director General Andrey Kortunov also held consultations with Mr. Yu Hongjun, President of China Center for Contemporary World Studies and Deputy Head of the CPC International Department.

On November 7-8, Beijing hosted a session of the Contemporary World Multilateral Dialogue 2013 jointly held by China Center for Contemporary World Studies, China Energy Fund Committee and China Foundation for Peace and Development.

The Multilateral Dialogue is a high-level experts’ meeting focused on current issues of world politics, the role of China in the system of international relations, mechanisms for prevention and settlement of global and regional crises, and ways of improving global governance. Under this year’s theme “Global Trends and China in the Coming Decade”, the leading international experts have discussed possible consequences of China’s rise against the backdrop of the ongoing transformation of the international relations system, as well as China’s new economic, political and security challenges.

Having addressed the forum on multilateral efforts to build up efficiency of global and regional governance, RIAC Director General Andrey Kortunov also held consultations with Mr. Yu Hongjun, President of China Center for Contemporary World Studies and Deputy Head of the CPC International Department, on the implementation of the joint project of his Center, RIAC and American Nuclear Threat Initiative Fund aimed at conducting a comparative analysis of perceptions for potential security threats to China, Russia and the United States, and search of mutually acceptable areas for cooperation of the three countries in maintaining regional and global stability.

Participants pose for photo during the Contemporary World Multilateral Dialogue in Beijing, Nov. 7, 2013. (Photo source: xinhuanet.com)

Dealing with intra- and Inter-national governance deficit: the fusion politics of tomorrow

Andrey Kortunov

If I were to limit myself to only one dilemma of the global politics in the coming decade, I would single out the dilemma of governance. On the one hand, our common needs to enhance governance at both intra- and international levels go up, on the other – our abilities to provide this governance go down. The gap between what we all need and what we can afford is widening and this gap can affect all of us in years to come.

Why do we need to enhance governance? The answer is evident. Our civilization is becoming more complex and more fragile at the same time. The level of regional and global interdependence grows literally year after year. All of us depend more and more on decisions that are made somewhere overseas, on trends and events that we cannot control and sometimes find hard even to predict. The old rules of the game and the old international mechanisms designed and constructed mostly in the middle of the previous century demonstrate their limitations. We keep accumulating problems and crises, which we fail to resolve or even to manage. The growing volatility of the global politics might become a serious impediment to the global development and prosperity.

So why are we unable to enhance governance? Why all the brilliant plans to reform the United Nations, to modernize international law, to build new multilateral regional and global institutions have not been successful? I think the answer to this question requires a little bit more thinking, but let me offer a couple of plausible explanations. First, economic interdependence is not an antidote to political nationalism. On the contrary, today we see an almost universal rise of nationalistic sentiments and an obsession with national sovereignty. In a way, it is a natural reaction to the rapid globalization that we’ve witnessed after the end of the Cold War. The wide spread public frustrations with the effects of globalizations are exploited by conservative, traditionalist, in some cases – even radical political groups and parties. Nationalism sets limits on what we can do together (and East Asia is a very graphic example of these limitations).

At the same time, I believe that today we see what I would call an almost universal institutional fatigue. The general public is very much disappointed with the performance of many international organizations – their red tape and wastefulness, corruption and inefficiency. It would be quite a challenge to convince our respective constituencies that they should support and fund a new cohort of international bureaucrats, who are so detached from ordinary voters and taxpayers. Look, for example, at the common European skepticism of the efficiency and wisdom of EU bureaucrats sitting in Brussels. In other words, the idea of enhancing global and regional governance lacks the needed credibility and public appeal.

Finally, to enhance governance we need a long term strategy. It’s a not a goal that could be attained overnight. But political systems in the modern world are constructed in such a way that they do not reward strategic thinking. Most politicians in mature democracies cannot afford the luxury of long term planning; their time horizons are extremely narrow and their dependence on the last public opinion poll is sometimes frightening. Being so dependent on fluctuations of public moods, a state leader can hardly seldom qualify as great strategists (China might be an exception from this general rule).

Of course, there are other important complicating factors that prevent us from addressing the issue of governance in a systemic way. One of them is the rapidly changing balance of powers between traditional great powers and emerging centers of economic and military might. Another one is the revolutionary development of new communication technologies that, along with many positive results, has increased potential for intra-national and inter-national instabilities. Yet another source of instability is the shortage of essential natural resources that is looming on the horizon.

I would be immodest to say that I have the golden clue to the problem of governance. But I am sure that the solution has a lot to do with our understanding of policy and politics, which till now remain quite archaic, one-dimensional and outdated. Let me submit for your consideration an outline of what I call the fusion politics of tomorrow. It is not a radical departure from the political practice of today, but rather an attempt to summarize the innovative trends that we see already manifesting themselves in many specific inter-national and intra-national situations.

As we know, fusion means and art or a process of melting together two or more components, which are distinctly different from each other. There is thermonuclear fusion in physics, for instance. Or fusion cuisine that mixes European and Asian dishes. In music fusion stands from blending two or more styles such as jazz and funk. I think that in politics the principle of fusion should be applied at three levels: at the level of identifying problems, selecting the right instruments and building coalitions of stakeholders for resolving the problems.

In terms of problem defining most of state leaders follow three parallel tracks: national security, economic growth and human development. However, the three tracks, as a rule, run parallel to each other; the three sets of issues are managed by different agencies, the three budget lines do not intersect, experts tend to focus on just one dimension of state policies. But as we all know, such compartmentalization of state policies is a recipe for a disaster: by emphasizing national security over economic growth you can win a war but lose the peace, by putting an emphasis on economic growth to the detriment of social equality you may end up with a revolution. We need to fuse the three dimensions of state policies into an integrated approach to problems we face.

In terms of selecting the right instruments we also have a number of assorted tools to handle inter-national and intra-national problems, but these tools do not constitute a complete set. There are well established and well endowed institutions like NATO that are desperately looking for a new mission, but avoid any real challenges. There are ad hoc coalitions that come and go, have no internationally recognized mandates and take no responsibilities for the consequences of their actions. There are international regimes that are brought to life by specific needs of participating parties and regulate very incremental areas of global of regional politics. As a result, we see a lot of duplication, institutional rivalries, mutual suspicions and the lack of consistency. What we need, is an institutional fusion, which will allow us to restore the global pyramid of governance with the United Nations at the top, regional security and development institutions at the second layer, with ad hoc coalitions and international regimes assisting and complimenting multilateral institutions.

Finally, we have to fuse various types of stakeholders in approaching international problems. Today we often see an evident disconnect between stare policies on the one hand, and aspirations of the private sector on the other. There are examples of successful private – public partnerships in dealing with specific situations, but these examples are not in plenty. Likewise, there is an urgent need to integrate civil society institutions into the international decision making and decision implementation. Until now many state leaders grossly underestimate the potential of these institutions regarding them as an irritant, if not an obstacle in approaching matters of both inter-national and intra-national governance. By doing so, they deprive themselves of a very powerful political ally capable of complimenting and enhancing efforts undertaken at the state level. Of course, working with non-state actors in not easy and might be even frustrating, but there is simply no alternative if we are indeed committed to approach the problem of governance in a responsible way.

Finally, let me say a couple of words about China. In my view, this country might play a leading role in resolving the problem of governance. It has resources that other major powers lack. It is has flexibility, because it is not constrained by membership in outdated international alliances. It has the capacity for a long term planning, which nowadays is not typical for national governments. It has experience of the public and the private sectors working together in various parts of the world. And, most importantly, China needs the enhanced governance at the inter-national and intra-national level as a precondition for its own development and prosperity for years to come. Therefore, it is destined to become a deal maker, not only a deal taker in many fundamental issues related to global governance.

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Poll conducted

  1. In your opinion, what are the US long-term goals for Russia?
    U.S. wants to establish partnership relations with Russia on condition that it meets the U.S. requirements  
     33 (31%)
    U.S. wants to deter Russia’s military and political activity  
     30 (28%)
    U.S. wants to dissolve Russia  
     24 (22%)
    U.S. wants to establish alliance relations with Russia under the US conditions to rival China  
     21 (19%)
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