Hi Wiebena,
I am sure there are not easy answers to the questions you raised. But here are a few thoughts that we had when dealing with similar problems to yours with Climate Change Policy.
1. Politicians in general, find it very difficult/ impossible to be strategic/wise. In the democratic world all the pressures for re-election necessarily make short-termism a prerogative. They also need to be seen to be active and decisive , so a period of contemplation or even uncertainty is seen as weak. ( A vision might be intellectually attractive but it is the economy that gets the votes!). My suspicion is that you do not become a politician if you are naturally inclined to be reflective and analytical ... more the area of the introvert. Probably China and possibly Japan and Germany are the only countries that I can think of that seem to have a stronger culture for long term planning (wise governance).
2. In a world forum, I believe that these problems are amplified. Power resides with the nation states, and however rational an approach may be if any individual nations ( or their electorate) don't like it ... well generally they just don't do it.
3. Meetings with large numbers of people ( greater than 7) may be good for communicating, but they never work as a forum for detailed analysis of problems.
Tough challenges for us there.
Good leaders would recognise that there is a deficiency in this area and make sure the resources, system and power is in place to balance this problem. .... We just need good world leaders.
Probably not helped you, Wiebena, no real answers but just a few thoughts off the top of my head.
I will send a separate email on our thoughts on Climate Change. I feel that it is a classic demonstration of the lack of wisdom in the world's response. I will definitely read your book.
As for the best approach, I agree with you that we need to be realistic in what we can achieve and what influence we can have. Academia seems a good first step and splitting it down into separate specialisations is pragmatic as we probably know the key people, institutions, publications etc. in our own fields.
My best,
David
Dr David Williams
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