This article explores the nature, dimensions and consequences of the emerging 'fractured global order', focusing both on the globalization processes now under way and on the deep fractures, both between and within nations, that are becoming an entrenched feature of the new world order. It then highlights the overriding importance of the knowledge fracture to explain the predicament of the poorer sectors of society, and examines the role that science and technology can play in promoting sustainable human development. © 1995.