The end of the Cold War marked the end of a well defined era. There is consensus that the complex and varied events of the past years following the end of the Cold War, have made it difficult to specifically define what the post-Cold War era is and should be about. The clearest patterns to date are this sense of a lack of definition and direction, the occurrence of many small conflicts (nationalism, regionalism, and ethnocentrism), and yet more natural disasters (combination of past, present and accelerating destruction of the biosphere). Yet, there is also (a growing) concensus that these patterns do already indicate what the purpose and direction of the post-Cold War era could and should be about. Namely, that the/one of the central pillar(s) of the post-Cold War era ought to be based on a doctrine of global sustainability.