The book focuses on the evolving challenges of governance- the effort to shape the present and future to meet human objectives- including that of their long term survival, and successful adaptation to rapidly changing circumstances including critical issues associated with finance, atmospheric pollution, information, pathogens and security threats.

Professor Falk, based in the Melbourne School of Land and Environment,  says our laws and institutions are struggling to find a formula for effective decision-making which recognises a social reality which is global and planetary, yet comprised of diverse cultures, societies, religions and civilisations.

“Concepts of boundaries – either between states or between government, market, and civil society – are no longer so useful because of the interconnected way the modern world operates across them.”

“Increasingly powerful voices are calling for democratic global decision-making which is easy to say but very hard to achieve. Reconciling the one and the many voices is the supreme challenge confronting contemporary governance. Future human adaptation depends on it.”

Using Copenhagen as an example of the difficulty in establishing a global agreement on climate change, the authors note “The concept of effective global-scale governance is not simply a case of allowing more states to have a say, important as that is, but of creating an environment in which different voices can be heard and listened to, the voices of the powerful and the weak, the North and the South, East and West.”

Leading Princeton University International Law expert, Emeritus Professor Richard Falk (no relation) commented that ‘Worlds in Transition’ is “An extraordinary book – the most comprehensive and profound assessment of the overall challenge of global governance yet available.’”