Introduction: The debate on global order in a changing world

Today, the debate on world order is intense. As is always the case in times of transition, the global restructuring of international affairs is generating a deep reflection on how the world is, and how it should be reorganized. After the long frozen period of the cold war and the subsequent years marked by US unipolarism, the world has begun the new millennium with profound shifts. The relative decline of the USA, the crisis in the European Union, the consolidation of the BRIC emerging economies, and the diffusion of the power to non-state actors all constitute significant elements that demand a new conceptualization of the rules of the global game.