The World in Transition

We are living in a time when everything seems to change at once.

Geopolitical power shifts, the overexploitation of our planet, climate change and loss of biodiversity all overlap. Since World War II, the world’s population has quadrupled to around eight billion people — who on average consume several times more than a generation ago. As a result, the planet’s natural resources are being depleted at an irresponsible rate — something everyone can understand, yet effective countermeasures remain absent. On the contrary: many political and business leaders still advocate population growth and rising consumption, in pursuit of economic growth that can no longer be justified.

Meanwhile, within a single generation, the world has become digitally connected at unprecedented speed. Everything communicates with everything else: people, organisations, systems, algorithms.

This convergence of crises and connections makes the world unpredictable. Old certainties — national borders, ideological frameworks, traditional governance and religion — are losing their self-evidence, and perhaps even their necessity. The classical frameworks of language, culture and faith arose from local contexts, but fit less and less well in a globalised world. As societies grow more complex, traditional political parties lose their grip, while populist movements deny the complexity and seek to restore a world that no longer exists.

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The Hyperconnected World

The digital revolution has created a new reality in which information and power move at lightning speed. Networks replace hierarchies, and public opinion forms in seconds — often detached from facts or even based on fake news.

Citizens and organisations react instantly to each other across borders. Influence and power are no longer the monopoly of states or institutions, but of those who know how to master the algorithm.

This hyperconnectivity offers huge opportunities — for cooperation, knowledge sharing and innovation — but also exposes the weakness of existing governance.

National politics was designed for a world of borders, physical trade flows and diplomatic negotiations, not for global information networks and real-time decision-making where everyone communicates with everyone and must collaborate on today’s grand challenges.

At the same time, we must ensure that poorer populations also benefit from digital progress — using digitalisation as a path to empowerment and a better life. Internet access should be recognised as a human right.

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The Democratic Crisis

Classical democracy wavers between two extremes.

On one side stand populists who reject complexity and long for a simple, homogeneous world where change is suspect and national frameworks are the norm.

On the other side are politicians who wish to preserve democracy but no longer know how to make it effective in addressing global challenges.

The result is political paralysis: slow deliberation versus fast crises, national reflexes versus global problems. As citizens turn away, technological and financial powers fill the vacuum. Big Tech, data and artificial intelligence have become new forces — without democratic legitimacy.

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The Direction of Transition

The world is moving irreversibly towards some form of digital governance. The question is: by whom, to what end, and on the basis of which shared global values?

If Big Tech and populists take the wheel, the digital world will become oligarchic and authoritarian.

But if politicians and citizens find the courage to renew democracy, that same digitalisation can become the foundation for transparent governance, broader participation and deeper international cooperation.

That would align with a growing awareness that we share one fragile planet — one that must be cared for, and where all life deserves a place.

Digital technology need not threaten democracy, provided it becomes part of a new governance model that is as open, accountable and inclusive as society itself.

Since digitalisation inherently crosses borders, political systems will have to do the same: coordinating policies more closely, thinking less in terms of power structures and more in terms of collaboration.

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Towards a New Democracy

A future-proof democracy must be not only representative but also responsive — in continuous dialogue with citizens, data and knowledge networks.

This requires new forms of decision-making:

• digital platforms for citizen participation and collective deliberation;
• use of AI for policy analysis and scenario development, under democratic control;
• evidence-based policymaking guided by knowledge;
• international agreements on data ethics, privacy and public digital infrastructure;
• fair, neutral access to information for all citizens worldwide;
• cross-border cooperation in science, healthcare, education, ecology, infrastructure and security.

In short: democracy must evolve from a nationally oriented system of voting and debating into a living, digital, international network of cooperation and shared responsibility — the fluid society.

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The Choice We Now Face

The world in transition will not wait for politics to catch up.

We can leave digitalisation to market and power, or use it to reconnect governance and society.

History shows that great transitions only gain direction when values prevail over interests.

If we want a democratic future, we must reinvent it — as a system that looks not backward, but forward: towards a sustainable, digital, international and just world order.ne that looks forward to a sustainable, digital, international and just world order.

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