Dear HCSS supporters,
Has 2016 with Brexit, the Ukraine referendum and Trump been a year without precedent? And if so, is 2017, with similar high profile elections in Germany, France, the Netherlands and possibly Italy, only going to supersede all of the remarkable moments of 2016?
We live in an era of tremendous transition, that encompass power shifts from West to East, technological breakthroughs in materials, life, and information and social exchanges between groups previously unaware of each other.
Transitions lead to instabilities and put enormous pressure on the way governments, businesses, and individuals relate to each other, who we identify with, and on all of our societal constructs that we have developed since the Second World War. In fact, recent events have demonstrated the flaws in their capacity to deal with the current circumstances.
We need to adapt to proceed. An almost natural response from significant parts of society is to preserve what is there, to put the brakes on developments that are bound to happen, in hopes that it might give us more control to steer their direction. The discussion about providing a basic income, so people have the time to reconnect with a new economic and societal reality and to distribute the growing global prosperity more evenly, is becoming louder.
Next to adaptation, the concept of trust is important, be it on an individual, institutional or governmental level. TPP, TTIP, CETA; what used to be undisputed trade agreements, are now increasingly seen as pillars of globalization and are therefore to be mistrusted. The decline of confidence in national governments can be reversed, starting by taking up the responsibility to provide common defense, national security and personal safety. Reinsuring that the ‘system’ is still recognizable and viable will allow us to cope with the global challenges we’re facing.
We at HCSS think that trying to ignore or stop what is happening amounts to putting the lid on an unsealed high pressure cooker.
Highlighting what global changes are truly happening and what possible effects might occur from these developments is our central mission, as presented in many of our 2016 reports such as The Netherlands in the Global Food System and The circular economy and developing countries.
We do not pretend to know the future, to solve highly complex problems with our analyses, or to immediately improve the fate of the record number of refugees that have been displaced from home and homeland in 2016. But we hope that our fact-based analyses contribute to an increased understanding of where the world is heading to and give an idea of how governments, businesses, individuals, and all of us can help to make this world a better and safer place to live in.
The HCSS team wishes you a merry Christmas and a happy new year!
Experts
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