Conflict and Cooperation in the Global Commons

A Comprehensive Approach for International Security

Scott Jasper

• Publisher: Georgetown University Press
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781589019232
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: International Relations
• Index: Politics & International Relations

More than ever, international security and economic prosperity depend upon safe access to the shared domains that make up the global commons: maritime, air, space, and cyberspace. Together these domains serve as essential conduits through which international commerce, communication, and governance prosper. However, the global commons are congested, contested, and competitive. In the January 2012 defense strategic guidance, the United States confirmed its commitment "to continue to lead global efforts with capable allies and partners to assure access to and use of the global commons, both by strengthening international norms of responsible behavior and by maintaining relevant and interoperable military capabilities."

In the face of persistent threats, some hybrid in nature, and their consequences, Conflict and Cooperation in the Global Commons provides a forum where contributors identify ways to strengthen and maintain responsible use of the global commons. The result is a comprehensive approach that will enhance, align, and unify commercial industry, civil agency, and military perspectives and actions.

PART I

SECURITY DYNAMICS

CHAPTER 1

Problems in Collective Action

SANDRA R. LEAVITT

Global public goods can only be attained if countries work together, and globalization has only increased this fundamental
interdependence.

—Kofi Annan, “Endorsements”

Soft and hard power are intrinsically tied to the measured use of global public goods that exist in the global commons. Diplomatic power relies heavily on unfettered access to airspace through which national interests are promoted by governments, to oceans in which the balance of power is enforced in accordance with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and to both outer space and cyberspace by which allies, partners, adversaries, and international organizations communicate and inform the global public.¹ Ideological power encompasses for many nations the ideals of democracy, free trade, universal human rights, and advancement of scientific knowledge and is projected through the international media and private citizens who travel and work abroad with relative ease. Today economic and military power depend almost equally on unrestricted access to and use of the resources within the air, maritime, space, and cyber domains. In the final analysis national interests cannot be pursued or achieved without secure access to the global commons.

Use of the commons must be maintained in concert with formal and informal groups. Collaboration can provide efficient responses to threats, lower the cost of unilateral action, and multiply influence and resources.² Some problems cannot be resolved or goods supplied without the participation of large numbers of people acting for the common good rather than simply out of self-interest. Such action occurs when a member of a group “acts as a representative of the group and where the action is directed at improving the conditions of the group as a whole” and/or influencing others to adopt policies that favor the group’s objectives.³ This will not preclude acts of self-interest but it requires creating a shared identity, compromising in favor of the group, investing time and resources, and lessening the role of national sovereignty.

The fundamental difficulty of getting individuals and nations to create and nurture global public goods—like the global commons and the freedom, prosperity, and capabilities that they provide—is forging and maintaining collective action. Our understanding of this dynamic and how to overcome it has been the task of political and social scientists for several decades, both within their respective fields and through multidisciplinary research efforts. The conclusions of this academic collaboration indicate the importance of developing a practical, comprehensive approach to addressing the problems of generating collective action in the commons.

This chapter examines the security dynamics of forming collective action groups that are focused on securing the global commons. It elucidates the basic features of public goods that distinguish them from private goods and expounds on the global commons as sources of goods that are vital to international security. It also analyzes problems in collective action in terms of social mobilization, suboptimal collective nature of rational individual choices, free riders, and the tragedy of the commons. The tendency to overuse and misuse the commons is discussed in light of future conflicts and threats posed by negative externalities. Finally, three strategies are considered for resolving problems of collective action: capitalizing on the enabling dynamics of interpersonal relationships within groups, continuing to make investments in formal institutions that inculcate desired norms and values, and nurturing the development of informal transnational networks, which have proliferated as many nations become more interdependent on one another. Each speaks to shared benefits and individual incentives for collective action.

FEATURES OF PUBLIC GOODS

There are three features of public goods. The first is nonexcludability, which means that once supplied it is nearly impossible to deny the use of the goods to others.⁴ The second feature is nonrivalry, or the dynamic that use of public goods by a person or nation typically does not detract from their use by others. And some scholars posit a third feature, namely, jointness of supply.⁵ This suggests that public goods need voluntary cooperation to supply and maintain them because of the first two features or because “none could afford to supply them on their own.”⁶ These features can be contrasted with private goods, which are bought and sold in a competitive market driven by the laws of supply and demand and furnished by exchanging labor for wages. Private goods primarily benefit those people who trade in them. By contrast, public goods assist more people who play no role in producing or maintaining them. Without market incentives to supply them, sovereign nations are called on to produce public goods with pooled taxes.

Global public goods share the core features of nonexcludability, nonrivalry, and jointness of supply to various degrees. According to one analysis, “public goods are considered global when they have universal benefits, covering multiple groups of countries and all populations.”⁷ Given the vast physical reach of global public goods, it is difficult to exclude those who do not contribute to their existence. It is more likely that self-interested individuals will overuse global public resources, which they perceive as infinite, or overconsume when they appear scarce. It is less likely that sovereign nations and private actors with diverse national self-interest will join together to supply them. In order for nations to act collectively they must agree on which global public goods must be provided, who will pay for their creation and maintenance, and who will enforce their contribution and sustainable use.

SOURCES OF PUBLIC GOODS

The global commons are best conceptualized as composed of physical or virtual domains that are not owned or controlled by a single nation or individual. They include international airspace, the high seas, outer space, and cyberspace. Over time, the global commons have become important to providing tangible and intangible global public goods that are vital to economic interests as well as national security. Tangible goods include food, clean air, ozone preservation, transportation routes, institutions like the United Nations, and sectors such as communications, biodiversity, medicine, and technology. Safe passage and unfettered access in the commons produce diverse and affordable goods to buy as well as markets to sell them. The nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the protection of fissile material are additional tangible global public goods.

Intangible global public goods include concepts, norms, and values that make access to physical resources possible and add to human potentialities, among them peace and stability.⁸ They have been provided largely by the projection of allied power, which generates favorable regional balances of power that contain adversaries without direct confrontation and promote democracy. Conflict prevention, another intangible public good, also has been created by the international norms of nonviolent conflict resolution, humanitarian aid, and universal human rights.⁹ Security-related public goods are made possible by freedom of transit in the global commons. For example, airpower, enabled by the exploitation of outer space, has given the United States an “increasingly pronounced degree of freedom from attack and freedom to attack for all force elements,” not only for its own national security but also to ensure peace and stability worldwide.¹⁰

Personal freedom represents another public good championed and protected by Western nations. As it has gained acceptance, many state and nonstate actors have come to respect this value, whether for utilitarian reasons or from personal conviction. Leaders in developing states may pay lip service to increasing personal freedoms for their fellow citizens in order to acquire access to higher levels of Western aid while at the same time placating their domestic constituencies, which have come to expect more personal freedoms. The spread of this value has also given the United States a multitude of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to consider as partners in furthering democratization and rule of law abroad. It can be argued that there are many others, who work collectively, that is, through private militia and authoritarian regimes, to limit others’ personal freedoms; the values espoused by these groups, however, currently have limited legitimacy on the international stage.

The global commons provide freedom in various ways. The first is freedom to travel abroad to earn a living or education, experience foreign cultures, and conduct innovative research. The free-market economic system, which is highly reliant on the global commons, is in part based on notions of equal opportunity and competition. Democratic values, the rule of law, and universal human rights have spread widely, in part because of the influence of the transnational media and freedom of the press. Freedom from want and fear, as espoused by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, are intangible but critically important goals that have been internalized as key values that help people develop their own potential.¹¹ The adoption of these political ideals remains central to physical safety and economic prosperity as well as national security.

Finally, global public goods include the shared heritage of mankind. International organizations and NGOs work to preserve and make public uncommonly spoken languages, art, biodiversity, symbols and documents of major civilizations, and scientific knowledge. Although some artifacts find their way to the auction block and marketplace, many people respect them as belonging collectively to mankind. Mindful of this legacy the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has designated more than 900 World Heritage Sites in some 151 nations since 1972.¹² Moreover, scientific and technological knowledge, which are key to addressing many global challenges, are themselves global public goods with security and economic ramifications.¹³

IMPEDIMENTS TO ACTION

The primary features of global public goods—nonexcludability, nonrivalry, and jointness of supply—often lead to problems of collective action that impede social mobilization. Nations and individuals operating in an anarchic international system, without legitimate regimes to firmly compel desired behavior, for the most part do not readily supply or protect goods that benefit noncontributors or curtail their own use of resources. As such, international cooperation is a form of organized volunteerism, even given the breadth and depth of international law that exists today.¹⁴ The ability to opt out typically leads to an undersupply of global public goods as well as the depletion of resources in the global commons, even when nations and individuals realize that they would gain far more by working together.¹⁵

Social mobilization is the sustained organization of large, complex groups acting toward defined political goals involving society’s power, resources, behavior, and participation.¹⁶ Although social mobilization theory sought to understand when, why, and how people acted in rebellion against the state, its four analytical elements are applicable to mobilizing citizens to make extraordinary contributions as well as multilateral efforts to provide global public goods. These four elements are shared grievances, framing narratives, political opportunities, and resource mobilization.¹⁷ The absence of any one can derail the best-intended collective efforts; on the other hand, their skilled application can motivate sacrifices on behalf of the group, sometimes entailing economic losses or even death.¹⁸

All collective actions start by recognizing shared grievances: the mutual understanding that a problem exists or is looming and that a change must take place in the public sphere to remedy harm, avoid future losses, or create something that is not being provided but is highly valued. Next, leaders must frame the problem by persuading others to join the cause, solidify the group, and make sacrifices that benefit them as well as noncontributors.¹⁹ Ideology serves as a strong motivator for collective action when it is based on shared identity and action.

Political opportunities ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Foreword: Contested Superiority in the Commons
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• Introduction: A Comprehensive Approach
• Part I Security Dynamics
• Part II Conflict Methods
• Part III Cooperative Opportunities
• Part IV Interface Mechanisms
• Part V Behavioral Norms
• Conclusion: Avoiding Conflict and Facilitating Cooperation
• Selected Bibliography
• Contributors
• Index