A central purpose of public policy think tanks is to bring under one roof people of shared interests, yet different backgrounds, to let creative sparks fly, new ideas germinate, and exciting projects emerge. In 2008 the three co-editors of this volume became closely connected as Distinguished Fellows at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI). We all shared a passion to understand better the changing nature of the international system in the new century, to grasp more precisely the role of intellectual endeavours in effecting these changes, and to craft more finely the tools needed to translate conceptual capacity into operational practice.