10 | Interview
coalitions, mega conferences and unilateral initiatives, is
ineffective. We need to seize the opportunity to discover
integrated, innovative and cooperative solutions to these
global threats that require a security framework tailored for
this century.
A number of factors are needed for such a framework—the
political buy-in. I’ll mention a global public that understands
and supports integrated international efforts, and has the
ability to see global issues as interrelated. It also requires a
consensus on the need to revise notions of sovereignty that
incorporate the test of protection.
R2P is not one side of a two-sided debate, but it offers
a third alternative, which maintains the essential role
of nation states but with commitments to a resetting of
sovereignty rules and the application of human security
criteria. Increasingly, the governance of global issues will
have to evolve into a form of network governance that will
The Hague Institute for Global Justice
link the players together, and through linked connections
find ways of working in concert.
You have recently joined the Commission on
Global Security, Justice & Governance. What
do you think this commission can achieve that
cannot be achieved by an individual Foreign
Minister?
To my mind, the lesson of the International Commission on
State Sovereignty (discussed above) is that to become an innovative agency for change, effective political support is needed,
which requires careful recruitment of allies and supporters, and
consistent, coherent messaging. In other words, what is needed
is a strategy for building support and consensus among the international community. I see this potential for the Commission on
Global Security, Justice and Governance; first, the development
of the ideas, and then the mobilization of support. This is a Commission whose time has come, and I’m glad to be a part of it.