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.
Tracy Shildrick reviews 'The Richer, The Poorer How Britain Enriched the Few and Failed the Poor. A 200-Year History' by Stewart Lansley, a book that examines how Britain’s most powerful elites have enriched themselves at the expense of surging inequality, mass poverty and weakened social resilience.…Read more
In our ‘Future of Democracy’ webinar on 29 September, Marcial Bragadini Boo and Geoff Mulgan will discuss their recent publications and share their different approaches to democracy. Find out more about the event in this article.…Read more
Despite the so-called ‘landmark legislation’ of the Modern Slavery Act, there are significant shortfalls affecting the most vulnerable victims of human trafficking. Alexandra Williams-Woods examines how the Modern Slavery Act has failed to safeguard victims.…Read more
What does a feminist peace look like? In this new article, Sarah Smith and Keina Yoshida outline the approach of their new book ‘Feminist Conversations on Peace’.…Read more
Ghana’s policy decisions during the first year of the COVID pandemic were influenced by it being an election year. Kirchuffs Atengble and Michael Head call for a better awareness of evidence-informed decision making (EIDM) that will help decision makers to prioritise the general good over interests of the self. …Read more
Inviting youth engagement groups to summits such as the G7 is tokenistic if these groups are excluded from high-level decision-making or if their insights and lived experiences are not valued. Safia Sangster speaks on the pressing need for global leadership to make decisions that reflect the diversity of the global population. …Read more
In this episode, Richard Kemp speaks with Dan McQuillan about what artificial intelligence really is. They discuss how artificial intelligence damages society in ways that are not easily fixed and why it needs to be restructured from the ground up, as well as how these fundamental changes to AI can help create a better society for everyone.…Read more
The study of the global political economy is the understanding of recurrent and periodic crises and is now perhaps more important as a discipline than ever. Phoebe Moore and Mònica Clua-Losada launch our newest journal, Global Political Economy and explain its relevance and raison d’être.…Read more
Gary Craig, co-editor of The Modern Slavery Agenda, looks at how Mo Farah revealing his story now has raised public consciousness about slavery.…Read more
Launching their book ‘Social Work with the Black African Diaspora’, Paul Michael Garrett and Washington Marovatsanga call for more expansive and less Eurocentric ways of perceiving the social work task.…Read more