“The 21st century opens in twilight and obscurity” – Eric Hobsbawm maintains we live in a transitional period in which old forms of governance are no longer sufficient. Whatever the crises - epidemics, natural disasters, terrorism, hunger, recessions, mass, unregulated migratory movements - the need for change is pressing and urgent. National governments acting alone are unable to respond. Inevitably, as the sovereignty of the nation state weakens, new forms of governance beyond the nation-state are emerging.

Can trust, and with it legitimacy, be regained through the creation of partnerships in which business, civil society and politics share responsibility and together develop problem-solving expertise to address pressing global challenges?

Calls for greater public participation and transparency have become too loud to ignore. What form, then, might innovative partnerships between politics, business and civil society take? How might we succeed, both at a national and supranational level, in converging different interests and ideas around tackling specific tasks with a limited time horizon? In short: How can we problem-solve in temporary coalitions that share responsibility?