Global Problematique Symposium
With an elective titled Global Governance and Complex Problem-Solving in the Post-9/11 World, one would be crazy not to sign up for it as a Master's student at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution. Of course, after receiving the syllabus from Dr. Dennis Sandole, the course instructor, and seeing a 15-20 book reading list, one might need to be slightly unhinged (like myself) to actually take it. That said, Dr. Dennis Sandole makes a compelling case as to why he created this S-CAR course. It was a course born out of events that took place in the last decade, and an article from the July 9, 2008 issue of The Economist. Sandole made the case that the current infrastructure for "global management" is incapable of handling the problems of the 21st century. These new century problems - dubbed the Global Problematique - include global warming, pandemics, deforestation, poverty, overpopulation, WMD proliferation, resource scarcity, terrorism, and many global systemic problems not confined by borders or sector. Twentieth century Westphalian institutions and discourse are rendered obsolete in handling these complex, interconected, cross-border problems. Unilateralism need not apply.
And yet, from the first decade of our century until now, the United States continues to engage in a unilateralist foreign policy in tackling these issues, which has proven to be woefully inefficient. A decade of war has caused an entire generation of global youth to become traumatized by war, a severe global financial downturn, and interest and resources to be squandered on "threats" that are miniscule compared to what severe climate change and food insecurity can cause to the global community.
This is what led a few peers and me to form a Global Problematique Working Group within S-CAR with the explicit objective of addressing systemic global problems.
As a group, we organized and held a symposium on April 12, 2012 to introduce the DC academic and professional community to Global Problematique as a beginning for dialogue on the subject and to cultivate interest. The symposium consisted of a panel of speakers who discussed the current status of the Global Problematique and current actions in place to address it. This was followed by roundtable discussions, including panel speakers, network professionals, academics, and others, to allow for a collective thinking process on the Global Problematique. The event generated excitement among panelists and attendees to engage in further discussion on this issue. Interestingly, the panelists themselves, each with a great deal of experience in their respective fields, had the opportunity to meet with each other, and realized that they are engaged in projects with similar objectives, despite the differences in their backgrounds and disciplines. This shed light on how little professionals mingle with one another across different fields, which may hinder comprehensive and innovative strategies to address major global problems. The symposium demonstrated that even a small group of dedicated students can elicit change, simply by bringing the right people together. I can safely say that the Global Problematique Symposium did achieve this objective, and as such, it was a success!