The aftershocks of the 2008 financial crisis still reverberate throughout the globe. Markets are down, unemployment is up, and nations from Greece to Ireland find their very infrastructure on the brink of collapse. There is also a crisis in the management of global affairs, with the institutions of global governance challenged as never before, accompanied by conflicts ranging from Syria, to Iran, to Mali. Domestically, the bases for democratic legitimacy, social sustainability, and environmental adaptability are also changing. In this unique volume from the World Public Forum Dialogue of Civilizations and the Social Science Research Council, some of the world’s greatest minds—from Nobel Prize winners to long-time activists—explore what the prolonged instability of the so-called Great Recession means for our traditional understanding of how governments can and should function. Through interviews that are sure to spark lively debate, 22 Ideas to Fix the World presents both analysis of past geopolitical events and possible solutions and predictions for the future.
The book surveys issues relevant to the U.S., Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Speaking from a variety of perspectives, including economic, social, developmental, and political, the discussions here increase our understanding of what’s wrong with the world and how to get it right. Interviewees explore topics like the Arab Spring, the influence of international financial organizations, the possibilities for the growth of democracy, the acceleration of global warming, and how to develop enforceable standards for market and social regulation. These inspiring exchanges from some of our most sophisticated thinkers on world policy are honest, brief, and easily understood, presenting thought-provoking ideas in a clear and accessible manner that cuts through the academic jargon that too often obscures more than it reveals. 22 Ideas to Fix the World is living history in the finest sense—a lasting chronicle of the state of the global community today.
Interviews with: Zygmunt Bauman, Shimshon Bichler & Jonathan Nitzan, Craig Calhoun, Ha-Joon Chang, Fred Dallmayr, Mike Davis, Bob Deacon, Kemal Derviş, Jiemian Yang, Peter J. Katzenstein, Ivan Krastev, Will Kymlicka, Manuel F. Montes, José Antonio Ocampo, Vladimir Popov, Jospeh Stiglitz, Olzhas Suleimenov, Jomo Kwame Sundaram, Immanuel Wallerstein, Paul Watson, Vladimir Yakunin, Muhammad Yunus
Piotr Dutkiewicz is a Professor of Political Science and the Director of the Center for Governance and Public Policy at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.
Richard Sakwa is Professor of Russian and European Politics at the University of Kent and an Associate Fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House.
A joint publication of New York University Press, the Social Science Research Council, and the World Public Forum
If we have to rely on these clowns, we're all going to die of academia-speak before we have a chance to fix anything.
In theory this should be a great book - an anthology of current ideas by current thinkers - but it's not. I'm not sure if the problem is with the ideas themselves or with the presentation.
The book title presents the content as 22 ideas but they're really 22 conversations with 22 men. Each chapter launches directly into dialogue with the thinker without an introduction, summary or title that consolidates the thoughts into an actionable tool or definable theory.
The first thinker on the list, the only one I recognized previously, is Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank and father of 'the social business'. If the title/topic of that conversation was 'social business' the dialogue would have context, direction, and a point. Instead it just meanders.
If anyone writes a tl;dr version, a 22 bullet point version,I'll read it. I still want to know what those 22 ideas to fix the world are.
"NO, José, the Soviet Union did NOT fail "because it was technologically weak" - I DID RESEARCH ON THIS for years - the COMMAND ECONOMY and the QUESTIONABLE LEADERSHIP crumbled the USSR. *None* of the literature I reviewed suggests weakness in STEM. That is pure propaganda. NO - I researched through FIFTEEN BOOKS about this. And ASKED people who'd know. That makes me angry!"
I mean, the people who said the Soviet Union failed due to STEM weakness were so politically biased that they did not pass my quality protocols.
It's upsetting people who believe that nonsense have so much power.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Well, I just want to say that there is one of the thinkers (all of them male) that is extremely good looking and appears to be modeling something in his photo. All the ideas and conversations are interesting, but many of those men already have their books and have extensively explained their points, so I am sure I wouldn't be saying anything new by repeating their ideas here. Just look at some pictures including that handsome guy:
Will Kimlicka (the good looking philosopher for minority rights):
Craig Calhoun (looks like an old teacher of mine):
Paul Watson (all environment-lovers have such a great hair!)
Not everything for me was clear, especially in the speeches of the economists, but these interviews do show how you could do something more than complain and especially what.
Non tutto mi é risultato chiarissimo, specialmente nei discorsi degli economisti, resta il fatto che queste interviste fanno vedere come si potrebbe fare qualcosa di piú che lamentarsi e soprattutto cosa.
THANKS TO NETGALLEY AND NYU PRESS FOR THE PREVIEW!
Essays based on interviews with would-be worldchangers about the state of the world, spanning insight to reaction to neo-imperialism. Includes a photograph for each interviewee. I don't think there is any interview with a woman. I read a review copy from the publisher.
Some of the ideas in this make me miss my philosophy classes from college. However, I think it is enormously irresponsible to put together a book of great thinkers in the 21st century from a broad collection of disciplines without including even ONE woman. Hence the two star review.