Reasons to be optimistic about the legacy of 2016
Amid the slaughter, political bile and upheaval, it is easy to forget that individual capacity to turn dreams into reality is greater than at any point in human history, and that social entrepreneurs are doing just that
This year was in many ways one of great-power politics. The resurgence of Russia on the global stage, from Ukraine to Syria to China. The Saudi-Iranian power struggle in the Middle East. China’s assertion of its status as the Middle Kingdom once again, expecting deference from its neighbours in East and Southeast Asia. North Korea’s determined pursuit of nuclear weapons. Even Britain’s rejection of the European Union, fuelled in part by Tory dreams of Britannia sovereign once again.
It is a world of deals and shifting alliances, particularly as Pax Americana seems to wane – a trend that Donald Trump’s stunning election as president threatens to accelerate – and United States foreign policy takes a decidedly realist turn.
It is a world of 21 million refugees and 41 million internally displaced people, driven from their homes by war, famine and tyranny; a world in which half a million Syrians have been slaughtered in front of our eyes; a world with a conscience that can no longer be shocked by human suffering, whether from poison gas, barrel bombs, deliberate and systematic rape, or looming genocide. How, then, can one argue that this was a year of humanism?
Part of the answer lies in numbers. Our world comprises 195 states. A state is defined under international law as an entity with a permanent population, a defined territory, a government and the capacity to enter into relations with other states. Human beings have not figured out a better way to organise themselves globally, other than emerging regional actors such as the EU, which is having an identity crisis. Despite exaggerated claims about the rise of cities and the new medievalism, states are here to stay. Within them, however, are 7.4 billion people who are making their presence and power increasingly felt on the global stage.
Individual activists have a long history, of course. A review of Nobel Peace Prize winners shows an alternation between politicians and notable individuals determined to shape their world in a big way: Jimmy Carter, Shirin Ebadi, Nelson Mandela, Muhammad Yunus, Shimon Peres.