ABSTRACT
The Cold War’s end stimulated new interest in a longstanding United Nations institution: the world summit. World summits are one-time conferences organized by the UN to address global issues like environment, housing, or food. They involve thousands of policy makers working together over periods of years to develop consensual visions of principles and possible solutions to some of humankind’s most challenging problems. Since the Earth Summit of 1992 and counting the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) of 2003/2005, the UN has hosted almost one summit per year for eleven years.
