Liam Fox: 'We should shape the world in our own image The product of this process is Rising Tides: Facing the Challenges of a New Era, a 370-page work in which he warns that many of the world's institutions are simply ill-equipped to tackle the economic and security threats of the 21st century. The first challenge for world leaders in the 21st century will be to understand how interconnected we are. In the years ahead, our economic and security interests will be threatened by many more people, and if we are to minimise these risks, we have to be participants in the problem-solving. Isolationism is not going to be an option. Failed states, dirty bombs, water shortages, economic decline and other looming threats pepper the pages of Rising Tides, a title inspired by a passage from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and suggested by his wife Jesme Baird, a fellow doctor. "There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune," the line reads. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat, and we must take the current when it serves or lose our ventures. Dr Fox predicts that, in the coming decades, shortages of water and other commodities will lead to wars, citing astonishing nuggets such as half the world's population lives in places that are supplied by water from the Tibetan plateau. A central argument of the book is that the solutions to these problems will no longer be provided by the United Nations and other major global institutions. In the future, Britain - and other nations - must be prepared to act more independently. At times, the UN will be able to solve problems, citing the intervention in Libya. But on other occasions, leaders will have to abandon institutions created midway through the last century and act in their own interests. The 20th century was the century of the bloc - the trading bloc, the military bloc, the economic bloc. Our leaders in this century will require more agility and flexibility. They will need to form new partnerships and alliances to solve a range of problems. If China and Russia act as barriers on security issues at the UN, we will have to circumvent it. We cannot simply watch problems build up that will be to the detriment of our own security. The world will become multi-polar. Nations are already developing these partnerships. He cities the way the Royal Navy has worked directly with other countries around the world to combat piracy off the coast of Somalia. Similarly, countries are already forging ahead with their own bilateral trade deals rather than relying on the established Doha rounds to establish such agreements. So what does he see as Britain's role in this more fragmented new world order? We should be at the forefront of shaping the world in our own image. We are the oldest established democracy, we're a country that believes in the rule of law, individual freedoms, free markets. Unfortunately, the vote on Syria 10 days ago suggested that the British public want to take a back seat when it comes to intervening in world affairs. It is our duty as parliamentarians to act in the national interest. We can't change our minds on issues of national importance simply because of a flurry of emails. While some readers may find the subject matter of Dr Fox's book a little stodgy, the style is anything but - and there's a reason for that. Every chapter was talked into his laptop computer using voice-recognition software. "It does come up with some howlers every now and again," he says with a chuckle. It did seem to have a lot of trouble with [Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad. The first thing that everybody who's read the book says to me is that 'It sounds like you. I think that's a compliment. The technology has made the project less daunting than it may have been, as until now he has never written anything longer than a speech or newspaper article. He says at no point did he consider leaving frontline politics after his resignation, taking care to thank the friends, family members and more than 100 Tory MPs who sent him handwritten letters offering their support. "One of the advantages of being a doctor is that it gives you a sense of perspective," he says. A baby with a cord around its neck is a crisis. People writing nasty things in the press is unpleasant, but it's not the same thing. There are other books he could write, he says, with a smidgeon of embarrassment, as he feels his wife has already been bombarded with too many facts about global commodities markets. She may not be delighted to hear this, but there are many areas that I haven't touched on with this book that interest me, such as the coalition between crime, drugs and terrorism, cybercrime and manipulation of genetics. But wouldn't he like to be back in the Cabinet wrestling with - rather than writing about - the issues covered in his book? If it was something where I could make a useful contribution, then yes, I would. But I would need to think it was helping secure the next general election. That's my biggest motivation. With a reshuffle expected later this month, there is certainly talk in Westminster of a return for Dr Fox, perhaps as Chief Whip or International Development Secretary, if - as expected - Justine Greening loses her job as the department's Secretary of State. I've always been on very good terms with the Prime Minister, George [Osborne] and William [Hague]. So it's not as if I've been in splendid isolation. But I didn't come into politics for personal aggrandisement. I came into politics to campaign for what I believe to be good, traditional, Conservative values. He says he feels "refreshed." He also sounds ready for a return. Rising Tides: Facing the Challenges of a New Era" (Quercus, £20) is published on September 12