Declaration of Interdependence1

Abstract

Although not as consequential as the 226-year-old document it seeks to emulate, this Declaration of Interdependence springs from a similar aspiration: to break free of a tyranny that constrains creative thought and action. Independence has been superseded by interdependence, by a world comprised not of independent people and states but of one in which all individual and collective actors are increasingly affected by and reliant upon events and trends far removed from their immediate circumstances. This interdependence is widely acknowledged through pervasive preoccupations with the benefits and detriments of globalization, but these preoccupations cannot be freely pursued because thought and action at all levels of community are cast—tyrannized, really—in terms of a state-centric world view that limits comprehension and distorts practice. The core principles of our Declaration of Interdependence are thirteen in number: 1. The revolutions in communication and transportation, especially the advent of the Internet and jet aircraft, are shrinking time and distance, and making state boundaries increasingly porous. While states will continue to be active and most will continue to be viable, their power and authority on the global stage …