The world of today is virtually unrecognizable from the world in which we lived at the turn of the millennium. The last ten years have given rise to new actors playing prominent roles on the global stage, new technological breakthroughs that have changed the way we interact and new challenges so serious in nature that they require all our collective energies and talents to confront them.
The sea change that has washed over our planet during the past decade means that we need to view the world in a different way. Long-standing methods of addressing global problems need to be scrutinized, updated or re-tooled if we are to tackle adequately the problems of today and tomorrow. This is not to suggest that existing institutions of global governance need to be scrapped or that new ones need to be created. It may be that the institutions of today can better respond to our needs if we can conceive of a superior method of interaction among institutions and governments.
What do I mean by global governance? For me global governance describes the system we set up to assist human society to achieve its common purpose in a sustainable manner, that is, with equity and justice. Growing interdependence requires that our laws, our social norms and values and our mechanisms for framing human behaviour be examined, debated, understood and operated together as coherently as possible. This is what would provide the basis for effective sustainable development in its economic, social and environmental dimensions.
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