21st Century Challenges

The 21st century has presented humanity with a constellation of interconnected challenges that test the limits of existing institutions, ideologies, and capacities. Climate change threatens the ecological foundations of civilization. Pandemics have demonstrated our vulnerability to infectious disease. Artificial intelligence promises transformation on a scale comparable to the industrial revolution. Democratic backsliding threatens the governance systems that much of the world relies on.

These challenges share common features: they are global in scope, requiring cooperation among nations with competing interests; they are accelerating, outpacing the capacity of institutions designed for a slower world; and they interact with each other, creating compounding risks. Climate change drives migration, which fuels populism, which undermines the multilateral cooperation needed to address climate change. Digital technology enables both democratic movements and authoritarian surveillance.

History offers both warnings and hope. Humanity has faced existential challenges before — from the nuclear brinkmanship of the Cold War to the world wars of the 20th century — and found ways through them, if imperfectly. The tools available — scientific knowledge, international institutions, digital connectivity, historical experience — are more powerful than ever. Whether they will be deployed wisely enough and quickly enough is the defining question of our time.