Global Leadership in the 21st Century

Abstract

The world today possesses unprecedented opportunities and capabilities to promote global human welfare and well-being. But it is in urgent need of leadership to tap the opportunities and address the multidimensional challenges confronting humanity today. These challenges are a reflection of the urgent need to project a unifying global vision, build international support and multi-stakeholder commitment, enhance institutional effectiveness, and mobilize global society for effective action. The optimistic consensus that fueled progress at the end of the Cold War has disappeared. The momentum for collective action has dissipated. The recent retreat from multilateralism, democracy, economic cooperation, regional integration, arms control, cooperative security and multiculturalism undermines global cooperation at a time when it is urgently needed to achieve the development objectives of Agenda 2030, address existential ecological challenges, and prevent a relapse into strident nationalism and the Cold War competitive security. The world is desperately in need of leadership at this critical juncture. Although leadership has most commonly taken the form of great personalities in the past, it is no longer limited to individuals. Leadership is a way of acting. It is a living social process that encompasses the whole society in which and on which it acts. It may be initiated by idealistic individuals or innovative organizations, but ultimately it has to percolate down to influence the actions of many others in order to generate results. Outstanding individual leaders and the aspiring social collective are complementary forces. The essence of leadership is an inspiring vision of the future. That vision usually encompasses higher values, insightful ideas and growing awareness of untapped opportunities. It is fueled by the rising aspirations of the population transformed into intense social energies released into action. The results it achieves depend on the intensity of society’s aspiration for accomplishment, the organization of the ideas and knowledge on which it is based, the clarity of the goals and plans, and the effectiveness of the institutional mechanisms through which it is implemented. Individuals can play a key leadership role in all stages of this process. The process of leadership transcends the action of one or a few individuals. It includes generating awareness of unutilized social potentials, projecting higher organizational ideas, mobilizing the available global social energies and resources for practical application, strengthening the effectiveness of existing institutions of governance, and releasing a broad-based social movement to transform the compelling challenges confronting humanity today into catalysts for rapid global social evolution.