Publications / Frontiers of a Great Transition
Global Politics and Institutions: A ‘Utopistic’ View
This paper emphasizes the political and institutional dimensions of a different possible world, one that conjoins the desires of progressive social movements everywhere and gestures towards a hopeful vision of new forms of collective action. Thus, it tries to outline the politics and institutions that would be most compatible with meeting humanity’s complex and manifold goals, even as other social, technological, and economic changes take place. Its primary focus is the institutional arrangements that would facilitate a democratic global politics in the future, but it also lays out some current trends that show promise towards realizing such a future.
Essay #3 in the GTI Paper Series: Frontiers of a Great Transition
Climate Change: Redemption through Crisis
Sivan Kartha explores the complexity of the climate problem and ways to address it. He considers contrasting optimistic and pessimistic narratives of the future, and outlines a Great Transition society living in peace with its climatic constraints. He then discusses the pathway toward such a society.
Essay #13 in the GTI Paper Series: Frontiers of a Great Transition
Dawn of the Cosmopolitan: The Hope of a Global Citizens Movement
Orion Kriegman examines the potential for a global citizens movement by drawing on relevant lessons from past and current social movements. He argues that, although the emergence of such a movement might not be probable, it is nonetheless possible at this historical moment of growing interdependence and collective risk. He addresses the missing ingredients for the development of such a movement and points to further avenues for assessing its possibilities.
Essay #15 in the GTI Paper Series: Frontiers of a Great Transition
Feminist Praxis: Women’s Transnational and Place Based Struggles for Change
Wendy Harcourt et al. look at the context in which feminism is practiced by the women’s movements around the world. They present the Women and Politics of Place framework as an analytical approach that can inform our understanding of the many women’s networks engaged in the Great Transition. They then propose ideas for a feminist vision for the future built on realpolitik and feminist struggles for change.
Essay #11 in the GTI Paper Series: Frontiers of a Great Transition
Great Transition Values: Present Attitudes, Future Changes
Robert Kates, Anthony Leiserowitz, and Thomas Parris analyze current public attitudes toward the three key values of a Great Transition: quality of life, human solidarity, and ecological sensibility. They discuss how the forces of population growth, globalization, technological innovation, climate change, and—importantly—surprise will influence such values along the path toward a Great Transition future.
Essay #9 in the GTI Paper Series: Frontiers of a Great Transition
How Technology Could Contribute to a Sustainable World
Philip Vergragt examines how and which technologies could contribute to a sustainable society envisioned in the Great Transition scenario. He develops a broad picture of future technological developments in a Great Transition and explores a vision and associated events, pathways, mechanisms, and choices to help realize this vision.
Essay #8 in the GTI Paper Series: Frontiers of a Great Transition
Resilience and Pluralism: Ecosystems and Society in a Great Transition
Elena Bennett and Nicolás Lucas discuss the increasing scale and rate of ecosystem change due to human impacts in the twentieth century as well as the unevenly distributed benefits and vulnerabilities from such change. They argue for the need to transcend the nation-state and the dominant economic growth paradigm in order to develop adequate policies and institutions for addressing the socio-ecological challenges of the coming decades.
Essay #14 in the GTI Paper Series: Frontiers of a Great Transition
Security in the Great Transition
From the perspective of a historian writing in 2084, Charles Knight writes the history of how the world transitioned away from the paradigms of war and militarism and to a greater emphasis on cooperative security and “human security.” He discusses the institutional and cultural shifts that would effect such a non-violent and equitable world.
Essay #7 in the GTI Paper Series: Frontiers of a Great Transition
Sustainable Communities and the Great Transition
James Goldstein describes how the forces of globalization and urbanization have strengthened place-based identities while fostering broad recognition of the need for sustainable development. He identifies the key actors in efforts to ensure community sustainability and examines the limitations of such activities. He outlines the design of a sustainable city under the Great Transition and offers lessons from the Boston Scenarios Project to move us forward toward such a goal.
Essay #12 in the GTI Paper Series: Frontiers of a Great Transition
The Great Transition Today: A Report from the Future
Paul Raskin surveys the landscape of a Great Transition future from the perspective of an individual living in 2084. He emphasizes the preeminence of a triad of values—quality of life, human solidarity, and ecological sensibility—and shows how they, combined with a sense of world citizenship, have permeated political, social, and economic institutions.
Essay #2 in the GTI Paper Series: Frontiers of a Great Transition
The Role of Well-Being in a Great Transition
John Stutz analyzes available data on well-being, focusing on the three components of welfare, contentment, and freedom. He offers a vision of a future in which society has embraced the lessons learned from such analysis, particularly the importance of time affluence, and outlines a strategy to achieve a heightened quality of life through value changes, coalition building, and policy action.
Essay #10 in the GTI Paper Series: Frontiers of a Great Transition
Trading into the Future: Rounding the Corner to Sustainable Development
Mark Halle explores the assumptions underlying the architecture of the multilateral trade regime and how it has both delivered and failed to deliver on the various promises of trade theory. He argues that sustainable development can be achieved by a more rigorous enforcement of and commitment to—rather than abandonment of—the espoused principles. He concludes by analyzing how trade would function in the three archetypal regions imagined in the Great Transition.
Essay #6 in the GTI Paper Series: Frontiers of a Great Transition
Transforming the Corporation
Allen White traces the genesis, growth, and evolution of the modern corporation and its role in wealth creation. He outlines a vision for the future of the corporation that reflects the core values of human solidarity, ecological sustainability, and quality of life. He then explores the way forward to realize such a values-based shift in the design and operation of the corporation.
Essay #5 in the GTI Paper Series: Frontiers of a Great Transition
Visions of Regional Economies in a Great Transition World
Rich Rosen and David Schweickart analyze the dominant models of capitalism and socialism from the twentieth century to identify key lessons learned that must be kept in mind in building a more just, equitable, and sustainable economic system. They then outline three model economic arrangements that would embody the values of a Great Transition future.
Essay #4 in the GTI Paper Series: Frontiers of a Great Transition
World Lines: Pathways, Pivots and the Global Future
Looking at the concurrence of global crises, Paul Raskin provides a theoretical framework for analyzing structural change in human-ecological systems. He explores the possible forms and interactions of two key uncertainties—the aforementioned crises and human intentionality—in the landscape of the future, as well as the various paths that could result. He concludes by highlighting prospects and strategies for the formation of a global movement rooted in a planetary ethos.
Essay #16 in the GTI Paper Series: Frontiers of a Great Transition