Abstract:Increasingly, the terms occupying centre stage on the policy agenda in many countries are global in reach. Thus they stretch the operational efficiency and suitability of the fabric of the sovereign state to its limits, and beyond. In particular the issue of global environmental change is demonstrating the need to break new ground in terms of institutions and instruments which provide vehicles for the creation and implementation of public policy “beyond the state”. This paper explores the evolution of this situation during this century, and considers the institutional responses to the need for broader and broader geographical expressions of sovereig