Today’s world is absolutely the age of massive global transformations. This article is all about the impacts of massive global changes on human life. Fundamental global changes are taking place at a rapid pace. Past twenty years progress is much more than the previous 200 years. This article will cover the impacts of global changes in the political, social, economic and digital domain
Significant changes are taking place in the geostrategic space. We are witnessing the rise of new powers. We are indeed in a moment of transition. The world is moving from unipolar to a multipolar world. The Rise of the East has brought forth new economic powers. These powers include China, India and power blocks like BRICS, EU, and ASEAN. This transformation gives birth to geo- maritime strategies like the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the indo-pacific strategy. These strategies can prove to be competitive and even confrontational in the near future.
In the political Arena, this shift has been towards the exercise of rights and increased political aspirations. With the state gradually losing its exclusivity over information, the Civil Society has risen across the globe. All this, however, is under threat as we are now watching a surge in nationalism and chauvinism. This has also developed more authoritarian regimes such as those in Turkey and the Central African Republic and the growth of hybrid democracies like in Cambodia. The rapid transformation in the economic realm has brought forth benefits of globalization, and market mobility has opened up enormous opportunities for people. However, it also invited gross income inequality. This created the seeds of discontent amongst people throughout the world.
Perhaps, the most volatile arena of change has been in the field of environment and climate change. Human introduced conditions continue to Trigger a global temperature rise. The risks of food, water, health, as well as those of livelihood insecurity are at their peak. All these issues resulted in large scale displacements of populations. With certain possibility e of rising sea levels, millions of people will become climate refugees. This is causing social upheaval and even interstate conflict.
we are at a moment of transition when it comes to two energy since we are trying to move away from fossil fuel dependency to a non-carbon economy. In the energy sector, we are moving to cleaner, renewable energy resources. This is not an easy transformation and, if not managed well, it might cause massive socio-economic disruptions.
The digital world is a top beneficiary of massive Global changes. Excess to 2 digital technology has never been this prevalent. Today, over 3 billion people in the world carry a supercomputer in their pockets in the form of a smartphone. Introduction of new technologies like artificial intelligence, robotics, big data, etcetera will completely change the way we live, communicate, educate and even the way we think. It is indeed a “GAFA”(Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple) world. However, this will also come at a cost in the short run as these emerging technologies of the fourth industrial revolution will take away our known skills, expertise, and our jobs. If we are able to adapt well and rescale ourselves and rethink how our societies can function, the number of new opportunities will be greater than those we will have lost.
At the social level, we are seeing major transformations when it comes to women empowerment – #MeToo campaign is a good example. These transformations have created new opportunities for women around the world.
On the demographic front, the changes are equally massive. On the one hand, we are observing a rapid increase in the Global population with almost 83 million people added each year. The presence of the youth population has increased in developing countries. At the same time, the world is witnessing declining populations in countries such as Russia and Japan.
A changing world creates both risks and opportunities. The age of the fourth industrial revolution, advanced technology and globalization are unleashing unprecedented innovations. These advancements can alter our work, life and today’s known world. There are some countries that are trying to resist these systematic changes. But there are also others that are embracing this transformation and the potential to design and build a safer, smarter, healthier and a more sustainable world.
