Introduction

Global Governance naturally poses two broad sets of questions. The first is who the players are: a characterization of the "actors" participating to the shaping of Global Governance is necessary if the authors have to retain a meaningful definition of the phenomenon. The second is a definition of the mechanisms used by these actors in steering, or at least trying to steer, Global Governance – these mechanisms being obviously related to and dependent upon the nature of the actors the authors estimate being legitimate players. In fact, national Governments based on the tenets of the market economy are the very founding fathers of the IFIs that United Nations General Assembly portrays as the main "shapers/controllers" of Global Economic Governance (GEG). The concept of Human Development has a somehow less encompassing and better-defined meaning than the concept of GEG. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.