This book is a record of the fourth Global ThinkNet Conference convened in Tokyo on May 29–30, 2000. The theme of the conference was “Guidance for Governance in the 21st Century.” The scrutiny under which governance is coming in the new millennium motivated the conference theme. As all countries seek qualitative improvements in policy formation and implementation, it is necessary to rethink the processes involved, to ensure diversity of actors and options, to reconstruct systems for consensus building and collaboration, and to revisit policy-implementation methods.

 

Discussions at the conference centered around four topics relevant to the themes of two ongoing research projects. The joint international policy research projects considered the themes of “Guidance for Governance” and “Force, Order, and Global Governance.” The four conference sessions focused on the topics of “The Role of Alternative Sources of Policy Advice,” “In Search of a New System of Governance: The Changing Role of Politicians in the Policy-Making Process,” “The Role of Force in Global Governance,” and “A Future Research Agenda for Think Tank Cooperation.” Approximately 80 participants from 18 countries grappled with these issues.