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And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.¹

Revelations 6:8

In 1498, a young artist from Nuremburg, Albrecht Durer, completed a series of woodcuts on themes from the biblical Book of Revelations. One of the most famous of that series was his vivid rendering of the four riders described in the sixth chapter of that book. There were three other riders apart from Death – their names were Pestilence, War and Famine.

Mankind has been trying to come to terms with all four Horsemen for thousands of years. In some parts of the world, their presence has become a mere rumour, a dark shadow rarely encountered. In other parts, notably Africa and the Middle East, the Horsemen are spreading their dominion with casual, malicious ease.

This book is about one of many recent efforts to rein in the Horsemen, to bring order and light and fairness to places where chaos, disease and cruelty are gaining ground. This chronicle records the mobilization of practical experience and specialized knowledge from many countries. The people who participated in this project sought answers to some of the classical problems of governance. How do we prevent war? How do we feed the hungry? How do we house the homeless? How do we cure the sick? How do we decide together the way forward?

The project this book describes did not find all the answers, but it explored an approach with great potential for good. And it confronted a range of critical challenges which the impact of globalization has made even more important. Nowadays, these challenges do not affect life in just one village or one city or one country or even one continent. They affect us all.

Endnotes

¹ The Bible, King James Version, The Revelation of Saint John the Divine, Chapter 6, Verse 8.

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