AIC is a model that illustrates the relationship between purpose and power. The model is named after the three fundamental and universal relationships involved in the design of any purposeful system:the relationship to the whole (appreciation), the relationship between the parts of the whole system (influence), and the relationship of the individual part to itself (control). Just as the mixing of three primary colors can give millions of different colors, so to can the mixing of A, I and C give millions of shadings of power relationships.

The worldwide nature of these problems requires the implementation of a sense of responsibility that is itself globalized. We must preserve the positive aspects of an increasing inter-dependence among societies and at the same time limit its more negative aspects, starting with the threats that may lead humanity to create the conditions for its physical and moral auto-destruction. Three great challenges – ecological, economic and ethical – thus appear linked to the lack of governance that humanity is experiencing today.

To provide a civic and ethical response to these challenges, it now appears necessary to work in two directions:
1. The first is the emergence of a world citizenry and – with time – a world democracy, to give a legitimate democratic basis to the ecological, public health, social and economic regulations that have become indispensable;
2. The second is to provide an ethical quality to the democratic model, which it is cruelly lacking today. Democracy cannot be confined to the electoral principle or even to the power of people to govern themselves: elections can be used by dictators, and people, left to their fears or their identity crises, can turn to war or oppression against other human beings.
World democracy must be built on a world ethos that relies on universally shared values, namely :
• The inviolability of human life;
• The respect for human dignity;
• The golden rule of reciprocity toward our fellow human beings (“do unto others as you would have them do unto you”) and of responsibility towards future generations.  If science, economics, and technology are to become once again the means and not the ends of humanity, the establishment of world civility needs to be free of the constraints of special interests, of media obsession and short-term concerns.