Powerful tendencies, startling discrepancies, and elusive dynamics: The challenge of studying world politics in a turbulent era

The three main stirrings which are leading the world into uncharted domains are, first, a skill revolution that has enabled citizens to perceive more clearly where they fit in the course of events and to engage more effectively in collective actions designed to serve their interests. Second, collectivities everywhere are undergoing authority crises in which traditional concepts of legitimacy are being replaced by performance criteria of legitimacy. Third, processes of bifurcation have given rise to two worlds of world politics, a multi-centric world comprised of diverse non-governmental actors who are independent of the other state-centric world, and who interact with counterparts in the state-centric world.