In his book, A World in Disarray: American Foreign Policy and the Crisis of the Old Order, Dr. Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, argues that the existing notion of national sovereignty will be insufficient in the 21st century and proposes a fundamental shift in the way America approaches international affairs.

On globalization’s contribution to “disarray”: “What we increasingly live in is a world in which power has been distributed more broadly than in any other time in human history. And with it decision making. There are far more capable autonomous actors in the 21st century than in any other moment in history. That adds by definition to disarray.”

On his proposal for renewed sovereign obligation: “My argument is simply, while we need to respect sovereignty and not again bring about a world where invasion is commonplace, we also now need to build on it. My idea is that sovereign entities need to have the obligation to make sure that nothing is allowed to go on within their territorial limits that has adverse consequences for anybody else. In return, nothing will go on in anyone else’s territorial limits that would have adverse consequences for us.”



