Institutional and political crises in the governance of the world order under conditions of globalisation are strong. They have been exacerbated by the renewed salience of the security agenda since Sept 11, 2001. Thus there is a need for European analysts and practitioners undertaking scholarly and policy oriented research into the theory and practice of global regulation across the economic and security domains to come together in a coordinated and lytemic process of dialogue. By challenging fragmentation in European research in this area GARNET will fill this role. It will develop a multi-dimensional, multi disciplinary community of researchers and practitioners with expertise in the key areas of global and regional governance focussing on those elements of the regulatory framework-such as trade, finance, security-thai structure the modern world system.

Four themes will guide GARNET'S activities:
(1 ) the theory and practice of regionalism;
(2) the key institutions of the regulatory framework necessary for collective action problem solving at global and regional levels;
(3) key policy issues in global governance; notably those concerned with overcoming problems in the governance of trade, finance, security, environment, technology, development, disease and public health, social reproduction and gender inequality;
(4) the role of the ED in the advancement of research and policy practice in themes (1)-(3).

Unilke the scholarly community in the US for example, Europe speaks with a pluralist voice on issues of governance and regulation. GARNET aspires to harness and consolidate this pluralist vitality on a continent wide scale to build a stronger, more self-consciously European research community on global governance as a precursor to improving scholarly presentation and representation, with all the attendant downstream implications for policy making that such improvements in the communication and interaction of knowledge would.