Abstract

This book depicts the challenges associated with the emergence of a new global order in which patterns of conflict and the role of traditional military power are in the process of radical flux. 

Our ideas about global order have yet to catch up with these new behavioral trends, including the rise of non-state transnational political actors in the context of neoliberal globalization. In this historical setting the modern territorial sovereign state is confronted by multiple challenges ranging from climate change to mass migration to transnational political extremism. 

The existing global order seems currently overwhelmed by these challenges, resulting in widespread stress and chaos that is transforming global security in ways that endanger democratic governance. The future will be determined by whether the peoples of the world make their weight felt in support of sustainable global justice and overcome the impact of oppressive and exploitative patterns of corporate and state behavior. It is this problematic set of circumstances that Power Shift addresses.

'Falk has brought powerful moral and legal insights to debates about order and justice in world politics.'
Foreign Affairs

‘Eloquently written by the world’s leading international lawyer, Richard Falk’s new book is an absolute must read for anyone seeking to understand power shifts in the world order and our human condition in the early twenty-first century.’
Stephen Gill, author of Power and Resistance in the New World Order

‘Original, eloquent, challenging and hopeful, Richard Falk is always worth reading.’
W. Michael Reisman, Yale Law School

'Richard Falk is always ahead in identifying the perils of our time. Emerging but neglected issues are here addressed with passion and rationality.'
Daniele Archibugi, Italian National Research Council and Birkbeck, University of London

‘These elegantly written and erudite essays expose the myopic and embedded character of geopolitical and statist framings and, at the same time, identify openings for a different kind of future offered by the citizen pilgrim. The critique of drone warfare and how it undermines international law is particularly devastating.’
Mary Kaldor, London School of Economics

'Power Shift … is full of interesting insights and displays an impressive degree of rhetorical power. For all those who are in search of a forceful, mostly Left critique of the status quo, this book is a must-read.'
Ethics and International Affairs

Richard Falk is Albert G. Milbank professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University, the author of over thirty books and a specialist on the role of international law in global politics. The United Nations Human Rights Council appointed Falk as the United Nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Palestine from 2008 to 2014.