For The Global Good

RULE 5: Legitimacy and effectiveness depend on institutions that work. Global bodies like the United Nations and the World Bank were created in the wake of the second world war. They must now be adapted to reflect the changing distribution of power and the new threats to security and prosperity, from climate change and inequality to global terrorism. Reform is essential to preserve these bodies' legitimacy and to increase their effectiveness.

Britain's role in this new world lies in forging shared rules and institutions—not as an empire, but as a global hub, cementing old alliances and building new ones among states, businesses, nongovernmental organizations and citizens. And Britain can do this as a close ally of the United States and as a member of the EU and the U.N. Security Council. As for the United States, it once (after World War II) led the creation of a new international system out of moral duty and national interest. We need the same leadership today, to help ensure a fair and effective rules-based international system that promotes prosperity and security across the globe.

Miliband is foreign minister of the United Kingdom.

© 2007