Not only is the world today carved up among 192 countries, but one of the most under-appreciated realities of modern existence is that there is not a space on the planet that does not nominally belong to a government somewhere.  Nor is there a government that does not want to be taken seriously and treated as though it is just as sovereign as every other.

Yet, at the same time that every state is made to count, no state is really held to account.  This renders sovereignty a global emperor with no clothes.

With no enforcement capability, the international community is just that: an entity that communes.  It wields neither clubs nor trumps to effect.  This means the bottom line remains much as it has always been: ultimately, only might makes right.  More often, it seems, might makes wrong.  Then, when that happens, yet more force is required to overcome those bent on misusing it.

Ironically, it is the very existence of states as each other’s sovereign equal that renders international governance unworkable.  What country would – or should – voluntarily trade away its prerogatives for another country’s laws?  Would the United States accept Islamic law or sharia as national or even state law?  What kind of sense does it then make to assume that people who live by sharia would voluntarily abandon their system for ours?  Meanwhile, the question of whose laws and morality should prevail is just one obstacle to a unitary world.

Chapter Subheadings

The Need for a New Capability: Deep Understanding

Inconsistency and Ambiguity – the Banes of Current Strategy

The Non-State Actor Problem

Reinvigorating Sovereignty