Is Global Cooperation and Leadership Impossible? – Ian Bremmer on Honesty, Responsibility and Foresight

Forget the G-8, the G-20, the United Nations and all other initiatives of global cooperation – in the emerging global order every nation fights for itself.

At the World Economic Forum in Dubai few were as outspoken in the exclusion of the possibility of truly global cooperation as Dr. Ian Bremmer, who argues that it is to the benefit of nobody to close one’s eyes to the volatility, insecurity and humanitarian casualties that arise as ever fewer nations have the capacity and none have the willingness to exercise global leadership.

I sat down with Dr. Bremmer to talk about the upcoming global order and its implications for global governance. A best-selling author and international thought leader on geopolitics, Ian chairs the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on geopolitical risk and is the founder and president of the Eurasia Group, a leading political risk consultancy.

In the face of global challenges today, such as those caused by recent natural disasters and resource scarcity, global governance and leadership for sustainability is increasingly critical. But, at the heart of geopolitics, why is cooperation impossible? What can we do to solve these challenges? And who stands to benefit from a global power vacuum? For answers to these questions, listen to our interview with Dr. Bremmer below.

Dr. Ian Bremmer speaks at a panel on geopolitical risks; Source: World Economic Forum/Dana Smillie