08 Feb Why development needs to reimagine the future
I am a touch obsessed with the future. And others are too. For a real “report from the future” you should read The Great Transition Today by Paul Raskin, dateline Mandela City, 2084. The stimulating report is a think piece looking back on how the world moved from consumerism, individualism and domination of nature, to quality of life, human solidarity and ecological sensibility.
In this future, globalism is as natural as nationalism once was. There is a world constitution of 2032 enshrining three guiding principles: irreducibility (a core set of decisions have to be taken at the global level), subsidiarity (global level decisions are kept to a minimum), and heterogeneity (different regions are encouraged to define and find their own way forwards). Of course the paper does not say how any of this could or should take place – that is not the point. Rather these kinds of exercises are designed to expand the space for imagination.