Fostering System Change

Abstract

Most US national security problems, ranging from terrorism to the spread of weapons of mass destruction, from environmental destruction to life-threatening poverty, and from unwanted migration to gross violations of human rights, can be more effectively addressed if they are approached as problems of global governance rather than as problems to be solved by deploying US military power—regardless of the amount deployed. Military means should not be totally dismissed, but their recurring use is likely to increase risks of military competition, nuclear proliferation, terrorist attacks, forced human migration, and future violence. US security can improve with internationally agreed-on rules that constrain military technology, abolish poverty and meet human needs, protect the environment, and enable cosmopolitan law enforcement. Such lawmaking requires commitment to deliberate construction of effective, democratic, global governance in which all nations are equitably represented in order to reduce international anarchy and advance human security for all nations.