Introduction: |
BUSINESS LEADERS MOVE TO CENTER STAGE
The most powerful triad of geopolitics in the 21st Century is not as it was decades ago – the land, sea and air launched nuclear weapons of two superpowers. The new dominating triad of world affairs is the triangle of power sharing between three sets of actors, all operating globally – governments, civil society, economic power holders. The time has now passed when business leaders were merely occasional participants in international politics, intervening as stakeholders to frame this or that regulatory regime, such as tariffs, pollution controls or greenhouse gas emissions.
The normative global regimes of business, established in part through the achievements of the OECD, the ILO, the Basel accords, other inter-governmental treaties and organizations on the one hand and, on the other, business leaders, characterized the old order where corporate executives were stakeholders rather than drivers of the global order. Those foundations remain essential but there have been three important evolutions.
First, the private sector now controls the glue of the global economy and the means to protect it. This is the high-speed, digital communications and information technology, and associated cybersecurity measures. Second, after two decades of experimentation by business leaders offering part funding for inter-governmental organizations, such as the United Nations, or civil society organizations, business leaders have begun to shape business-enhancing civil society initiatives, such as the establishment of the 2030 Water Resources Group or the Carbon Capital Corporation.
Third, business leaders have moved rapidly to adapt to, improve and reframe the agenda setting where global civil society (not governments) had been the primary driver (in areas like cybersecurity, food security, the green economy, CSR and fair trade).
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