From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
The key for the development of the poor is to include them in the democratic process as well as in the market economy. Therefore, inclusion is the key for getting rid of poverty. Political inclusion… social inclusion… environmental inclusion… education and knowledge inclusion… network inclusion… all these types of inclusion which are taken for granted by people who are inside the growth process.
Power is seized with the gun and maintained with the pen. Controlling public opinion through propaganda and misinformation is the most critical task of an authoritarian power.
Our technological distraction is a first order political problem, worldwide. If digital media has become the lens through which we understand and engage with others, we need to figure out how to make that the right kind of lens.
Corruption is a phenomenon that has existed for thousands of years, but only now is it becoming an unacceptable event. Corruption destroys societies, hinders development and undermines security. Note what happened in the Middle East and North Africa… corruption was one of the triggers of unrest in these countries. It appears that people are fed-up of corruption, they want change, and they want it now.
Power requires oppression. In order to be powerful, you have to stand upon something. Strength comes from within. We are seeing the emergence of new political organisms with strength not power at the core. From Moscow to Hong Kong and India to the United States, powerless organisations are creating strong governance without power.
In the short-run, my fear would be that we've mismanaged the relationship with China through miscalculation to produce a 1914-like situation. I think it's a low-probability outcome, but it could of course be mismanaged. There's obviously the danger of nuclear weapons and a miscalculation leading to their use, and inevitably therefore, catastrophic outcomes.
When you take a step back and view this from a 30,000-foot perspective, I try to highlight the role of civilians in conflict. Officials, especially those in power controlling militaries or governments, often want to shape the narrative, to spin you to their story. But when you speak to civilians in the midst of war, they share more about the personal impact on their lives, and I think my audience and readers can connect more deeply with those voices.
Critical theories give proposed solutions to legitimate problems that could not possibly be more open to manipulation and grift. The manipulators and grifters have filled the vacuum to the point where they're only ones who can benefit.
The law is not an end in itself, but a means to achieve justice. When the law fails to deliver justice, we must be willing to reform the law, not abandon the pursuit of justice.
more Americans died in gun homicides and suicides in six months than have died in the last 25 years in every terrorist attack and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq combined…
We can win in the struggle to avoid climate chaos, we can win in terms of economic recovery and we can win when it comes to promoting development and justice. All we need is the political will.
Fundamental sense of well-being crucially depends on our having the ability to exert control over our environment and recognising that we do.