Global social challenges
There are multiple interlocking crises currently gripping the planet. Significant threats and dangers lie ahead of us, but so do opportunities, as new ways of being, thinking, and doing emerge.
This stream of Transforming Society is a space for exploring the complexities of the global social challenges across disciplines and fields. It seeks to build and share the knowledge needed to shape a fairer world, across and for the global south and north, hoping to foster dialogue between academics, practitioners, policy makers and the wider public.
On the anniversary of the Electoral Administration Act 2006, Henry Tam charts the insidious moves by Conservative-led governments to undermine democratic participation. …Read more
Parthasarathi Shome, author of 'The Creation of Poverty and Inequality in India', ponders the limitations of social science’s attempts to understand why poverty persists despite global and individual country attempts to eradicate it and alleviate inequality. …Read more
Andy Yuille, author of 'Beyond Neighbourhood Planning', discusses participatory democracy and asks how can it better engage with the things that matter to people in the ways that they matter.…Read more
Steve Cooke, author of 'What are Animal Rights For?', berates the government for capitulating to lobby groups and reneging on its promise to get its Kept Animals Bill through parliament.…Read more
In this policy briefing, Marcos González Hernando and Gerry Mitchell, authors of 'Uncomfortably Off', explain why it is in the top 10% of earners' best interest to pay attention to inequality.…Read more
Federica Rossi and Chris Magill speak to Jess Miles about what state harms are, how they are justified, opportunities for resistance and whether academic research itself should be political.…Read more
Based on Camilla Lewis’ book 'COVID-19, Inequality and Older People', this policy briefing provides new insights into the challenges facing older people in the COVID-19 pandemic.…Read more
David S. Caudill, author of Expertise in Crisis, argues that while disagreements over COVID-19 measures were often politically motivated, we should accept that sometimes there are genuine disagreements between scientists. …Read more
On Transforming Society, Julia Mortimer and Sarah Bird celebrate a year of the Global Social Challenges Journal and discuss its transformative mission to publish Open Access articles that respond to pressing global societal challenges.…Read more
When is it wrong to accept a donation because of how the money was made? In this final conversation with Rhodri Davies, he explores this and other moral dilemmas that beset the philanthropic landscape of the 21st century.…Read more