UN Chronicle.

Addressing a conference of the United Nations International School in March 2007, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon remarked that, unfortunately, his "generation has been somewhat careless in looking after our one and only planet". He could well have been speaking of more than the disregard a substantial portion of the twentieth century visited upon the earth and its environment, and been referring to the lack of care invested in the very lives and survival of the children, women and men who are heir to its bounties. Caring, as our cover image dramatically affirms, is intensely personal, but that is a quality of its nature. Individuals, by instinct, have the capacity to care. Institutions must learn how, and how best, to do so.

For this issue, we invited a range of eminent contributors to reflect upon an agenda for the United Nations and its new Secretary-General, and we discovered that each of these related to that quality of compassion, concern and, ultimately, partnership with responsibility. Jeffrey Sachs (page 20) speaks of "involved institutions" and "shared" international goals. Muhammad Yunus (page 22) describes poverty as "humanity's pre-eminent moral issue". Mo Ibrahim (page 24) argues for measuring and benchmarking governance.

Thomas Matussek (page 6) elaborates upon the United Nations role as the "centre of gravity" of the multilateral system. Heraldo Munoz (page 8) speaks unequivocally of the responsibility of democracies to deliver to their citizens. Hilario Davide, Jr. (page 11) writes of the "Asian obsession for unity in diversity", while Patrick Hayford (page 14) makes telling reference to the twisted logic of those...