Taking as a starting point that the much discussed concept of 'globalization' is happening, the distinguished contributors to this collection of essays examine the difficult relationship between 'globalization' and 'public governance'. They argue that there are important transnational and supra-national elements of a new public order, which remain, however, beyond the traditional borders of state (but not beyond the state as such), while new organizations and institutions are brought to bear on economic processes which impose a legal and political structure on global and economic processes.

Contents: Globalization and public governance - a contradiction?, Karl-Heinz Ladeur. Towards a General Theory of Globalization: Frontiers: national and transnational order, Lawrence M. Friedman; De-nationalized State agendas and privatized norm-making, Saskia Sassen. The Transformation of the Relationship between Public and Private in a Globalizing Society: Global private regimes: neo-spontaneous law and dual constitution of autonomous sectors?, Gunther Teubner; Globalization and the conversion of democracy to polycentric networks: can democracy survive the end of the Nation State?, Karl-Heinz Ladeur. The Change of Law and the State under the Pressure of Globalization: Global government networks, global information agencies and disaggregated democracy, Anne-Marie Slaughter; Sovereignty and solidarity: EU and US, Joshua Cohen and Charles F. Sabel; Legal orders between autonomy and intertwinement, Mark Van Hoecke. The New Forms of War in a Global Society: On globalization: the military dimension, Martin van Creveld. The Economy and Global Public Governance: The competitive State and the industrial organization of nations, Jean-Jacques Rosa; The network economy as a challenge to create new public law (beyond the State), Thomas Vesting; International trade as a vector in domestic regulatory reform: discrimination, cost-benefit analysis and negotiations, Joel P. Trachtman; Public governance and the co-operative law of transnational markets: the case of financial regulation, Pedro Gustavo Teixeira; Index.