While the United states Armed Forces (private mercenaries) are stationed at 737 bases, in 130 nations around the world, defending “all freedom-loving people everywhere in the world,” defending “all freedom-loving people everywhere in the world,” Chairman Harlan K. Ullman, of the Killowen Group, writing for the Atlantic Council claims that a catastrophic crisis is needed to save the “new world order” from its greatest threat—the growing army of whistleblowers:

       In simple terms, al-Qaida is symptomatic of far greater changes in the structure of the international system.  The major enemy and adversary are no longer states bent on disrupting or dominating the system despite those who see China as a future foe.

       Instead, the more immediate danger rests in the dramatic empowerment of individuals and groups, for good and sadly evil, often lumped together as “non-state actors.”
Edward Snowden, Bradley Manning, countless “hackers” and anonymous people … whose actions have indeed constituted real threats and systemic disruptions are among the former.  Al-Qaida and other radical groups reflect the latter.

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       In essence, the 365 year-old Westphalian system that placed sovereign states as the centerpieces of international politics is being tested and in some cases made obsolete by the empowerment of individuals and non-state actors. … [G]lobal politics has entered a post-Westphalian era. But very few have taken note and fewer have acted on this realization.

       The fundamental cause of this empowerment is the diffusion of all forms of power writ large commonly called “globalization,” accelerated by the information revolution and instantaneous global communications and the real and perceived fragilities and weaknesses of states to intervention, interference and disruption by non-traditional actors.

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       Beyond this inflection point in international politics, still unabsorbed and misunderstood by most governments and people, a second reality complicates taking effective action in what could truly be a “new world order” the description coined by U.s. President George H.W. Bush after the implosion of the Soviet Union more than two decades ago.

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       Without an extraordinary crisis, little is likely to be done to reverse or limit the damage imposed by failed or failing governance.

       [added 7/19/2022] Thanks to Freedom’s Phoenix for this entry.