ABSTRACT
Citizens' organizations have long been powerful advocates of a more peaceful world, including pushing hard for the creation of the United Nations (UN). As Secretary-General Kofi Annan argued before the UN General Assembly within weeks of the September 11th attacks: "The legitimacy that the UN conveys can ensure that the greatest number of States are able and willing to take the necessary and difficult steps—diplomatic, legal, and political—that are needed to defeat terrorism." In September 2003 Secretary-General Annan announced the appointment of a panel of eminent world leaders charged with examining current threats and challenges to global peace and security and considering far-reaching changes to address them. Civil society may best be able to help lay the foundations for peace by further developing groups' capacity to be effective partners and applying these skills to security issues. Civil society, government, and businesses are forming partnerships-often temporary and nonhierarchical in character-to tackle issues of common interest, including problems of peace and security.
