Crafting the agenda for the 21st century

Who is in charge, governments or corporations? And where are they taking us? One of the clear messages to emerge from the "antiglobalisation" protests over recent years has been a concern that elected governments have effectively abdicated to the private sector their responsibility for the welfare of both people and planet. With the gap growing between the rhetoric of globalisation - that the market would provide more wealth for more people -- and the reality that there is more wealth for some people but deeper economic and environmental poverty, citizens' groups feel justified in asking whether their governments have got the policy balance right.