"Problems cross borders without passports but we expect solutions to cross borders with passports." Kishore Mahbubani, Dean, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Singapore

The Global Agenda Councils that discussed Geopolitics and Global Governance issues identified three fundamental failures that may occur in this area:

•	Global market failure such as the financial crisis that is unfolding and beginning to affect real economies
•	A failed state, or a country that is unable to meet the responsibilities implied by sovereignty
•	Intergovernmental failure, a dispute or conflict between nations

These failures arise for various reasons, from stubborn resistance to the prevailing norms set by the international community to an absence of the political will to compromise or find common ground with neighbours or between vying interests within a country.

Councils discussed various initiatives to address governance problems that could lead to such catastrophes. Corruption in governance at all levels and in the private and public sectors is a pervasive problem requiring concerted action. Participants called for all stakeholders to sign on to the World Economic Forum's Partnering Against Corruption Initiative, a businessdriven multi-sectoral partnership to combat corruption around the world. To bridge widening digital divides that are increasing social divisions within countries and between economies, thought leaders proposed a Digital Marshall Plan. Heading off conflicts between states requires coordinated efforts to defuse potentially volatile situations early. While its institutional framework may need to be reformed to reflect 21st-Century realities, the United Nations remains the most valuable forum for such preventive diplomacy.

For many of the world's problems, governance solutions or approaches to address them already exist, some working well, some not so effectively. Yet many challenges clearly cannot be handled by the current order, said Rapporteur Kishore Mahbubani, Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Singapore. Climate change is a stark example. The world has struggled to shape collaborative protocols that sufficiently deal with the problem. The threat of terrorist attacks and the proliferation of weapons and materials of mass destruction are also risks that existing tactics may not adequately mitigate. Meanwhile, "illicit trade is growing deep and pernicious," noted Mahbubani, concluding that "we have a dangerous cocktail of problems staring at us."

To confront this troublesome mix requires first and foremost the recognition that "it is not business as usual," as Mahbubani said. "We need a wake-up call." Second, countries must examine the boundaries of sovereignty and the need to sacrifice sovereignty for the greater gain of the international community. Third, nations have to work together to draft the rules of the game. An especially urgent priority: a new framework for the international financial architecture. "If we can do it in trade, why not in other areas?" asked Mahbubani, referring to the mechanisms of the World Trade Organization.

The Councils focused on the importance of remedying deficiencies in the international legal system. Strengthening the global rule of law would help the international community deal with pressing global problems from pollution to pandemics. The chief obstacle to achieving this is the lingering reluctance to agree on collaborative solutions. "Problems cross borders without passports but we expect solutions to cross borders with passports," Mahbubani explained.

To be sure, none of the Councils advocated global government but instead preferred governance models in which nation states are still the main actors. But new collaborative formats obviously have to be drawn out. "The world expects new powers to provide greater global leadership," said Mahbubani. Participants generally recognized that the G20 summit on the financial crisis in Washington DC in November is a landmark event that heralds the welcome extension of governance over the international financial architecture, however superficial, from the G7 industrialized nations to the wider group that includes both developed and developing countries, including major emerging economies such as China, India, Russia and Brazil.

Councils focusing on Geopolitics and Global Governance

Global Agenda Council on: •  Corruption •  Energy Security •  Fragile States •  The Future of Governments •  Global Governance •  The Global Trade Regime •  Illicit Trade •  The International Legal System •  Negotiation and Conflict Resolution •  Terrorism, Proliferation and WMDs

The international community appears finally to have crossed a Rubicon, with no going back: for any global governance structure to be truly legitimate, it must henceforth combine the voices of the established and the emerging. It is only a matter of time before the United Nations Security Council is finally revamped to reflect that principle. "At the core of the global crisis is a collapse of trust," reckoned Thomas Sugrue, Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Professor of History and Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, USA. "A key to overcoming distrust is inclusive leadership, specifically recognizing the voice of marginalized groups."

Yet not all the new players brought in from the margins are eager to have greatness thrust upon them. China, for example, is clearly ambivalent about taking on a greater role in international affairs, even though much of the rest of the world thinks it should and will do so eventually. "What we want to do is share responsibility with other countries," said Cheng Siwei, President of the China Association for Soft Science Studies, People's Republic of China.

Councils focusing on Geopolitics and Global Governance