A Dam Difficult Future for International Business

February 13, 2013 by William Thomson

A Cambodian fisherman throws his net into the Mekong River. Laos says it will start construction of a controversial multi billion dollar dam, after adapting the design to calm environmental concerns from neighbouring nations. AFP via Intellasia East Asia News

We are currently living in a world of geopolitical competition, and that competition is increasingly taking on the nature of a zero-sum game. Although the US has played the role, at times, of a global hegemon since the collapse of the Soviet Union, it no longer possesses the political influence or the economic bandwidth to continue to do so. Perhaps more importantly, new rising economies are flexing their muscle and demonstrating their ability and desire to carve out their own spheres of influence.

Ian Bremmer, CEO of Eurasia Group, and Nouriel Roubini, Chair of Roubini Global Economics, have termed this new geopolitical paradigm a “G-Zero” world, a world in which no single country can meet the challenges of global leadership.

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