TWICE THE SIZE - DIT Update - Dublin Institute of Technology

2. Corporately, the power of business is very different to the power of government.
3.
Corporations are concerned with markets, profits, growth, survival, competitive
battles and the very complex issues of global management. They are far too busy to
deal in a meaningful way with the issues governments wrestle with –- social and
cultural matters, education, health and welfare, and collective safety and security.
Nevertheless, in advanced economies, corporations, taken together, probably have
more impact on people’s lives than government as the prime providers of goods and
the principal source of employment. In this context, the trend over recent years
towards increasing corporate social responsibility will grow and grow.
Fiscally, global monetary policy will increasingly be determined by the world’s
financial markets, through perverse subsidies, protectionist policies, and
4.
inappropriate measures of growth will continue to plague progressive governance.
The concept of sustainable development will permeate policy making at all levels,
and peace, non-violence and human security will increasingly be viewed as ‘public
goods’. The issue of securing and sustaining both energy and water supplies is one
which is certain to tax governance at all levels and in all sectors over the scenario
period.
5. There will be a constant progression towards democracy and away from
authoritarianism, but the threat of theocracies through widespread fundamentalist
thinking will be ever-present.
6. Between now and 2030, transnational criminal organisations will become
increasingly adept at exploiting the global diffusion of sophisticated information,
financial and transportation networks. A real risk being that organised criminal
groups will traffic in nuclear, biological or chemical weapons.
7. Individual communication and computing capabilities will be coordinated and
combined to produce a new form of social power in the shape of smart mobs,
whereby groups of people will develop novel ways of organising their interactions
and exchanges just-in-time and just-in-place.
8. There are likely to be successive waves of distrust by citizens towards global, state
and corporate governance which could result in a new world order where integrity
emerges as a significant accountable and competitive factor for global agencies,
countries and companies alike.
9. The legitimacy, influence and success of worldwide agencies of governance such as
the United Nations, the World Trade Organisation and the World Health Organisation
will be central in the long-run to the efficacy of global governance; though in the
short-run the role, nature and attitude of US policy makers will affect the form and
function of international conduct.
10. There are a set of value changes in terms of beliefs, aspirations, pursuits, ideals and
the like, that are contributing significantly to transformations in society and the way
in which it governs itself.
81