Editor: Kennedy Graham
Foreword by: Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations
Subject: International Relations
Cloth ISBN 0-8135-2678-7
Paperback ISBN 0-8135-2679-5
Pages: 320pp. 40 b&w illustrations
Description: Graham states that unless citizens and policy makers start thinking globally, the challenges of the 21st century will not be successfully handled.

The world is in a state of transition to a new age in which nation states are compelled to address certain problems of a global nature, problems that are beyond the capacity of any country, no matter how large and powerful, to solve. Some of these problems threaten the viability and integrity of the planet and place in jeopardy the well being of humanity and other species. In this book Kennedy Graham suggests that contemporary political and institutional arrangements for problem solving are not equipped to handle such problem and that the challenges of the 21st century demand new concepts and methods of decision making. He introduces and develops the idea of the planetary interest as a vital conceptual tool, allowing citizens and policy makers to better understand emerging global problems and respond with global solutions. The book includes contributions from twenty current or former politicians who discuss the particular global problems threatening their countries and consider ways in which recognition of the planetary interest can help them pursue a legitimate national interest.

Kennedy Graham is Project Director, Project for the Planetary Interest, supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, New York.

The Contributors Include:

Kofi Annan, Secretary General, United Nations

Dr. Dante Caputo, former Foreign Minister of Argentina

Naomi Chazan, Deputy Speaker of the Knesset, Israel

Hon. Dr. Abdul Moyeen Khan, National Assembly, Bangladesh

Dr. Gwyn Prins, Royal Institute for International Affairs, U.K.

Francesco Rutelli, Mayor of Rome