From war and political fights to the climate, there is no easy way out of our global crises

There can be no short cut for humanity towards social and environmental progress. Change comes from building links between individuals, communities and governments, and this takes work

Andrew Sheng

Published: 3:30am, 19 Nov 2022

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We are threatened simultaneously by crises from war, climate change, technology, social injustice and geopolitical rivalry. There is no super prophet available who has the sufficient moral and credible standing to lead us all out of the wilderness.

Change is coming so rapidly from all directions that in a world of specialists each in their own narrow fields, no single person has the breadth of knowledge to explain simply to 8 billion people how to act for social progress.

In 2018, 300 leading global social scientists (the International Panel on Social Progress) worked together to produce a multidisciplinary three-volume report called “Rethinking Society for the 21st Century”, considered then the cutting-edge thinking on what social progress is and how to achieve it.

Since the report was highly technical, Cambridge University Press brought out a simpler book version called A Manifesto for Social Progress: Ideas for a Better Society.

Nobel laureate Amartya Sen’s foreword recalled that 170 years ago, the era of social injustices from industrial capitalism produced a Communist Manifesto that claimed “the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles”. The new manifesto argues that social progress can be enhanced through reforms in institutions and behavioural changes. The difference between the two manifestos is that the newer version is based on the latest empirical data and research.

The core idea of a good society starts from the premise that every human being is entitled to dignity, irrespective of gender, race, religion, education, talent and productive capacities. Since human activity is changing the planet, humans should be in the driving seat of change.

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Indeed, the ESG (environment, social and governance) framework for business and investment makes clear that improvements in the environment and in society have to involve better governance.

Since governance quality determines the final delivery of progress, politics is all about how to achieve the three pillars of social equity (reduce inequalities between and within nations), freedom (expand and deepen basic liberties, rule of law and democratic rights for all populations), and environmental sustainability (preserving the ecosystem for future generations).

Conventional thinking about governance is often presented as a binary choice between state and market. But in practice, there are many variants of mixed economies and political systems, in which state and markets are symbiotic, simultaneously working and fighting with each other.

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Whatever the mode of governance, it must have bottom-up legitimacy and accountability. Links between leaders and communities must have feedback mechanisms of empowerment, representation, participation and deliberation that drive social progress. The alternative is social regression.

Amid global polarisation and contention, A Manifesto for Social Progress draws common lessons about social change. First, deep social change most often comes from people, social movements and civil society organisations, rarely from top down.

Second, democratisation and empowerment require the participation of and pressure from those stakeholders who are affected by change.

Third, many experiments are needed to explore how to implement and adapt general ideas to local needs and for change to be accepted.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hugs Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer after she spoke on the House floor at the Capitol in Washington on November 17. Pelosi will not seek a leadership position in the new Congress, a pivotal realignment making way for a new generation of leaders after Democrats lost control of the House to Republicans in the midterm elections. Photo: AP

In short, the consensus of 300 social scientists is that there is no single model, no single recipe for transformation. Social change comes from diversity and openness to different paths to change, but it is important to adapt general principles of human dignity and needs to local contexts and possibilities, and to exclude all dogmatic approaches.

The latest midterm elections in the United States reflect this complex but deep shift, after nearly six years of Trumpian politics that deeply divided the nation. Past midterm elections have always turned the tide against the incumbent party, but this time, the “red wave” shift back to the Republicans did not happen.

The Democrats did well to narrowly retain the Senate, and lost narrowly to the Republicans in Congress. A new Republican leader in Ron DeSantis has emerged as an alternative candidate to Donald Trump for the 2024 presidential race. The election results signal that American voters prefer a move towards the centre after years of traumatic polarisation.

US President Joe Biden (right) and Chinese President Xi Jinping meet on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Bali on November 14. Photo: AFP

In Bali this month, success in their respective elections gave US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping the mandate to begin to calm down rhetoric after months of escalating US-China tensions.

Differences will always exist, because progress comes from continuous change, from individual to community to national and then global levels. To expect top leaders of state or corporations alone to do the heavy lifting will not work.

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The social scientists’ manifesto has six ideas to change one’s own life and the world. Climate change is complex system change, and there is no silver bullet or instant fix.

First, one could change through family, especially listening more to the young. Second, change can come from the workplace, as one contributes through our jobs. Third, we can effect change through community. Fourth, we can change the market through our consumption and savings choices. Fifth, we can be a torch bearer to all we meet by caring and sharing. Lastly, we all should be active citizens, open and adaptive to change.

Change must take time; it often means a painful transition that cannot be avoided. Each generation must make their own mistakes or create their own opportunities for betterment. Change or be changed.

Andrew Sheng writes on global issues from an Asian perspective