The UK government has just been debating global security and the importance of global cooperation at Chatham House, an organisation devoted to thinking about international affairs.
Their conclusions below are meant to describe how global political power has changed over recent years, but they are equally relevant to business and increasingly to everyday life:
1. A global real time interdependence
2. A shift in the balance of power between the national and the international, a shift in power from west to east and a shift in power from governments and corporations to individuals (the civilian surge)
3. The global economic crisis: a choice between isolationism on addressing the crisis or a multilateral approach
Understanding other cultures – how they think, act, what languages they speak, how they view the world – is becoming more and more important.
It is tempting to see Western culture as ‘normal’ and other cultures as ‘different’ but as the balance of power shifts we will start to see more of other countries and cultures. Can we afford to keep this perspective?
