Are we creating an ungovernable world? Can we be confident that our existing modes of global governance are sufficient, or adaptable enough, to meet the challenges of globalization? This new study powerfully tackles these key questions, delivering a provocative examination of the cognitive, practical and political limits on our ability to exercise systems of regulation and control on the same scale as the globalizing forces already shaping the human condition. Key issues addressed include: - an examination of the many meanings of 'global governance' - a contextualised view of global governance within the complex interaction of human and natural systems - an analysis of global governance at a fundamental and conceptual level - a case study of disseminative systems and global governance This book is essential reading for those with research interests in global politics, international relations and globalization.