Contemporary society is a more global society. Over the past half-century people have, alongside their local, national and regional spheres, also come to interact globally on an unprecedented scale. More than ever, persons are interconnected with one another wherever on the earth they happen to live. Many of the principal policy challenges of the present day, including climate change, crime, infectious disease, financial stability, employment, (dis)armament, identity politics, social inequality and human rights, have pronounced global dimensions.

Whenever a given arena becomes important in people's collective lives, rules and regulatory institutions emerge to bring a certain order and predictability to that realm. Governance arrangements are needed if the societal space in question is to have any measure of stability and longevity. Thus at various historical junctures, village councils have developed in respect of localities and nation-states in respect of countries. More recently, regional domains have begun to acquire formal regulatory apparatuses, such as the European Union (EU) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). By the same logic, global-scale regimes could be expected to grow as global-scale social relations rise in prominence.

Such a trend has indeed occurred. The past half-century has witnessed an unprecedented expansion of governance instruments that apply to jurisdictions and constituencies of a planetary scope. The United Nations (UN), the Bretton Woods institutions and the World Trade Organization (WTO) are some of the best-known examples of global governance agencies.