Which World: Global Destinies, Regional Choices - Scenarios for the 21st Century - Hardcover

Hammond, Allen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 185383582X ISBN 13: 9781853835827

Publisher: Routledge, 1998

Synopsis

?Today, humanity faces a fundamentally different challenge ? that of managing a planet and a global human civilization in ways that will sustain both indefinitely. What makes this task less than easy are the pace and complexity of change. Over the next half century, human society will undergo a profound demographic transformation, experience fundamental shifts in the global balance of economic and political power, and cope with nearly continuous technological change. These transformations are inevitable ? the forces that compel them are already in place ? but their outcomes are far from fixed? This book is about the future, but not in the sense of making predictions. Rather it suggests how to think about the future. Because human destiny is not predetermined, this book explores not just one but several possible worlds, each embodying a very different vision of the future. Implicit in these contrasting visions is a choice: which world do we prefer; which world do we want to pass on to our children and grandchildren?? From chapter 1

About this title

Synopsis:

The author identifies three possible outcomes from late-1990s trends, and analyzes the prospects for each of the world's regions. The scenarios are "Market World" - in which market forces and new technology will lead to rising prosperity but greater inequality and insecurity, a future in which markets rule and global corporations dominate; "Fortress World" - a grimmer future in which islands of prosperity are surrounded by oceans of poverty and despair, a future of conflict and violence, social chaos and growing environmental degradation; and "Transformed World" - a future in which fundamental social and political changes offer hope of fulfilling human aspirations.

About the Author:

Allen Hammond is a senior scientist and director of strategic analysis at the World Resources Institute, a non-partisan policy research center based in Washington, DC. He received his PhD in applied mathematics from Harvard University, and he has published nine books and many scientific articles, as well as numerous articles and columns in newspapers and popular magazines.

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 185383582X
• ISBN 13: 9781853835827
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 318