A Word from the Editor

Global power structures are in a state of flux. The centre of world gravity is shifting from West to East amid the relative decline of the United States as a hegemonic power. Meanwhile, individuals, supranational bodies, NGOs and non-state actors are vying for influence more doggedly than ever before, aided as they are by Twitter, YouTube and the humble blog.

These developments raise vexing questions for students of international relations. Will liberal democracy flounder as Russia and China seek to prove that authoritarianism and economic liberalism are not mutually exclusive? Or will Western states rally by abandoning ‘hard’ power in favour of its ‘soft’ and ‘smart’ variants, which emphasise shared cultural and economic interests over the blunt tool that is military might? Finally, looking beyond the nation-state, what kinds of power will interconnected, tech-savvy and politically engaged individuals wield in this new world order?

While the answers to these questions are anything but clear-cut, the contributors to this edition of The Sydney Globalist agree that this much is clear: power now has more faces than ever before, from the head of state’s to the putatively faceless blogger’s.

Power now has more faces than ever before, from the head of state’s to the putatively faceless blogger’s.

In our lead article, ‘The Technological Revolution: Freedom, Change and Democracy in Iran’, Jahan Navidi argues that the blogosphere has provided Iranian youths with an effective outlet for their malcontent with the Islamic Republic, which reached fever pitch with the eruption of allegations of electoral fraud in June.

Other contributors explore political scientist Joseph Nye’s concepts of ‘hard’, ‘soft’ and ‘smart’ power; the sinister potentialities of the power to regulate public health; the continued relevance of the nation-state in an increasingly borderless world; the latter-day ‘scramble for Africa’; and the capacity for subjugated peoples to wield power even as it is wielded against them by overbearing regimes. As the subject matter of these topical articles makes clear, power is amorphous indeed.

This edition, I am sad to say, marks the end of my editorship of The Sydney Globalist. I extend my heartfelt gratitude to the magazine’s industrious staff and contributors, without whose creativity and support this year’s editions would not have been possible. Their efforts and vision have held The Sydney Globalist in good stead for 2010 and beyond.

Yours in global affairs,

Christopher Beshara
Editor-in-Chief (2009)