STATE OF CRISIS

Today we hear much talk of crisis and comparisons are often made with the Great
Depression of the 1930s, but there is a crucial difference that sets our current
malaise apart from the 1930s: today we no longer trust in the capacity of the s
tate to resolve the crisis and to chart a new way forward. In our increasingly g
lobalized world, states have been stripped of much of their power to shape the c
ourse of events. Many of our problems are globally produced but the volume of po
wer at the disposal of individual nation-states is simply not sufficient to cope
with the problems they face. This divorce between power and politics produces a
new kind of paralysis. It undermines the political agency that is needed to tac
kle the crisis and it saps citizens' belief that governments can deliver on thei
r promises.