Sublime

Progress at the regional level in this post–Cold War era has been uneven. The most successful part of the world, by most measures, has been the Asia-Pacific. This is a region characterized by high levels of economic growth and stability between and within countries. China’s rise thus far has been largely peaceful. The biggest shortcoming in securit

The concept of megapolitics is a powerful one. It helps illuminate some of the major mysteries of history: how governments rise and fall and what types of institutions they become; the timing and outcome of wars; patterns of economic prosperity and decline. By raising or lowering the costs and rewards of projecting power, megapolitics governs the a

The 193 UN member states are pursuing sustainable development with widely varying degrees of consistency and commitment. Some countries are on track to achieve most or all of the SDGs, including the decarbonization of their energy systems and reduced levels of inequality. Others continue on the path of highly polluting fossil fuels and growing ineq

La perte par l’Occident de son « monopole de l’Histoire » (sa capacité à assurer l’emprise décisive sur l’évolution de la planète), face à l’ascension de nouveaux pôles d’excellence (global stakeholders), initialement identifiés, en 2001, par le think-tank de Goldman Sachs, sous l’acronyme BRIC (Brésil, Russie, Inde et Chine), transformé par la sui

Autrement dit, il faut développer à la fois le global et le local sans que l’un dégrade l’autre. Il faut développer à la fois le déterritorialisé et le reterritorialisé. Du même coup, le monde humain évoluerait en spirale, retournant partiellement au passé (c’est-à-dire aux paysans, aux villages, à l’artisanat) pour mieux aller vers le futur.

La globalisation rend obsolète un État centralisateur et dominateur, qui a été autrefois relativement efficace en France (Louis XIV, Napoléon). Or dans le monde horizontal, un État qui s’obstine à garder la verticale du pouvoir, rate le rendez-vous avec son temps. Il a tendance à se rigidifier. Il devient lourd, lent, obèse, aboulique, inopérant. C

The third category is methodological and conceptual. My goal as a scholar is to replace the still dominant ‘national-modernization’ model with the paradigm of ‘sustainable modernity’ for the humanistic disciplines.

We are left, in the end, with a need, a hope, and a conundrum. The need is to steer the new age of globalization so that our energies are directed toward ending human poverty rather than human life. The hope is that across the world’s societies and religions there are common ethical underpinnings. The conundrum is how easily we nonetheless fall pre