Much of the writing in The Journal of Corporate Citizenship over the last few years has been concerned with stakeholder engagement, social partnership building, accountability, and reporting. To date, however, there has been little discussion of what comes next in potential transformational efforts to build a more secure, peaceful and ecologically sustainable world — or the corporate roles in building that world. This issue asks the question: What is the role of business in contributing to global peace and security over the long haul? As can readily be seen by the variety of papers and topics in the issue, the answer to that question is far from easy or simple, and each person who approaches the topic does so from a different perspective. Nonetheless, there are common threads and themes that arise when we begin thinking seriously about how businesses can contribute to peace and security and to what we are calling, after Polanyi, the next great transformation. Clearly, there are significant signs that transformation is needed in the world today.
