Volume 33, Issue 2 (2021)

Several of the articles in this issue of the New England Journal of Public Policy have a global focus, identifying threats to humanity’s future, some existential, that can be addressed only through unprecedented levels of international cooperation and new ways of thinking. But the global future is uncertain, whether because of conflict, extremism, the rise of nationalism, the retreat from democracy and its underlying value system, or moribund multilateral institutions and lack of leadership, much of which has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Rather than humanity coming together to face a common existential threat, countries retreated into their national silos and put their own national interests first. All the articles provide policy prescriptions that might either reverse present negative trends or identify new ways of thinking that the authors stress we must adopt if we are to navigate the world through the uncertain future.