The recent episode of an oppressive smog that blanketed Southeast Asia highlights an entirely new kind of problem in contemporary international relations, namely, the complexity of transnational governance when traditional remedies--from bombs and missiles at one extreme, to diplomatic démarches and summits on the more polite end--are of no use at all. Not only is responsibility and accountability diffuse and spread across a number of actors-- private and public, domestic and foreign--the presence of non-state agents confuses standard diplomatic operating procedures that are designed to respond to the predations of other states.

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