Gridlock: Why Global Cooperation is Failing when We Need It Most - Hardcover

Hale, Thomas; Held, David; Young, Kevin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0745662382 ISBN 13: 9780745662381

Publisher: Polity, 2013

Synopsis

The issues that increasingly dominate the 21st century cannot be solved by any single country acting alone, no matter how powerful. To manage the global economy, prevent runaway environmental destruction, reign in nuclear proliferation, or confront other global challenges, we must cooperate. But at the same time, our tools for global policymaking - chiefly state-to-state negotiations over treaties and international institutions - have broken down.

The result is gridlock, which manifests across areas via a number of common mechanisms. The rise of new powers representing a more diverse array of interests makes agreement more difficult. The problems themselves have also grown harder as global policy issues penetrate ever more deeply into core domestic concerns. Existing institutions, created for a different world, also lock-in pathological decision-making procedures and render the field ever more complex. All of these processes - in part a function of previous, successful efforts at cooperation - have led global cooperation to fail us even as we need it most.

Ranging over the main areas of global concern, from security to the global economy and the environment, this book examines these mechanisms of gridlock and pathways beyond them. It is written in a highly accessible way, making it relevant not only to students of politics and international relations but also to a wider general readership.

About this title

Review:

International institutions are less and less able to solve global problems even as we need them more and more. Gridlock offers a lucid and concise set of explanations for the dysfunction we observe across the security, economic, and environmental arenas. Best of all, by identifying systemic patterns of failure and the underlying causes, the authors are able to put forward a useful set of practical solutions. A great read for policymakers and experts; also ideal for an undergraduate syllabus.
Anne-Marie Slaughter , Princeton University

There is no shortage of books that make the case for global cooperation; this one explains why we are not getting it.  Ranging over international security, the global economy, and the environment, this excellent and sensible book elucidates why our global commons is becoming increasingly unmanageable, as a result in part of the very success of the post-war international system.
Dani  Rodrik, Harvard University

The authors provide a timely reminder that success in one area of the global agenda can actually bring about positive outcomes in other domains.  Conversely, they show that a lack of progress in any one area can undermine progress across the whole multilateral order with the consequence that global governance fails to  adapt to the 21st century. A must read for those thinking about a better global governance.
Pascal Lamy, Director-General of the World Trade Organization

There is a cosmopolitan imperative: cooperate or fail! This is an eye-opening and encouraging book. Not only does it present an analysis of why global cooperation is failing, but it also offers pathways out of gridlock.
Ulrich Beck, University of Munich

About the Author:

Thomas Hale is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford. David Held is master of University College and professor of politics and international relations at Durham University Kevin Young is assistant professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

About this edition

• Publisher: Polity
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0745662382
• ISBN 13: 9780745662381
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 368