The hopes fostered by the end of the Cold War have been shattered, in this troubled beginning of the XXI Century, both by a new kind of extreme violence, transnational terrorism, and more recently by a global economic downturn with no end yet in sight. Facing these challenges, world governance suffers from the inadequacy both of political theory and of institutions.

Roberto Toscano is Italy's Ambassador to India, having previously served in Chile, the Soviet Union, Spain, the USA, UN/Geneva and Iran. In the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he was for seven years in charge of Policy Planning.