Power is leaching from the center even as the complexities of national and international challenges multiply. It is the hallmark of our times. Whether political or religious leaders, CEOs or five-star generals — all are more constrained in what they can do. It's a pattern across all societies. The digital age, globalization and higher levels of education have equipped more people to become insurgents or to form single-issue pressure groups.
It is a world where the opportunities to be a Julian Assange, Beppe Grillo, Osama bin Laden, George Soros or Nigel Farage grow by the day. Power is draining away from those in whom it is formally placed, but with no obvious substitute in sight.
As Moises Naim writes in "The End of Power," there are three interrelated dynamics gnawing away at formal power structures — what he calls "the more revolution, the mobility revolution and the mentality revolution."