What can we learn from the 2010s?
Opinion Editor Nikolas Koch looks back over the last decade, reflecting on what we can learn for the New Year.
Many decades have monikers: the Roaring Twenties, the Swinging Sixties, the ‘Greed is Good’ decade of the 1980s. What title will we give the 2010s; which issues, narratives and moments will we remember? As the year ends, we are given an opportunity to reflect. What were the dominant ideas and events of the decade, and if we were committing to New Year’s Resolutions as a country, continent and world, what would we change?
The last ten years show that we do not live in a political vacuum incapable of change and independent of the world’s forces. Democracy continues to progress around the world and protect vital freedoms and rights. According to Varieties of Democracy, the number of democratic governments has reached a record high, with 99 in 2018 compared to only ten a century ago. However, Francis Fukuyama’s The End of History (1989) is now a classic example of overhasty political celebration, as we discover that Western liberal democracy may not be the ultimate form of government. History and our present global situation show that we are not on a unilinear political progression, which moves continuously and inevitably towards liberal democracy.
President Putin declared in June that ‘liberalism has outlived its purpose’, citing various examples of populism. Attempting to equate all forms of populism as identical and radical conceals significant differences in their ideology and local nuance. Nevertheless, we must acknowledge that there is a multiplicity of political realities around the world. A perception of unequal development as many are ‘left behind’, and upheavals like the 2008 financial crisis have shaken confidence in any unified ‘Western ideal’. The growth of a multipolar world has shaped the last decade: decisions are now made just as much in Asia as across the Atlantic, in Beijing as well as Brussels. Political moods and the centre of the world’s gravity can shift, even in multiple directions at once. As we hope to move on from a politics of extreme partisanship and political division, we should also heed warning signs to make our economic and democratic system a model which works for everyone.
Over the last decade, our climate crisis has slowly started to be taken seriously. Today, 28% of the UK population cites the environment as one of their top issues of interest. The latter half of the decade has seen the climate crisis under scrutiny like never before due to movements and individuals like ‘Extinction Rebellion’, ‘Fridays for Future’ and Greta Thunberg. Clearly, more must be done on an individual, governmental and corporate level. The growing interest in stakeholder-oriented capitalism or social-benefit corporations highlights a shift as many seek a more sustainable existence. In some ways, it is a good time to reflect how far we have come in recognising the issue of climate change. A UBS survey suggests that one-fifth of respondents have reduced their number of flights because of its impact on the climate. However, we must realise the significant changes we urgently have to make to save the environment, and many questions on our future remain unanswered. The UN warns that extreme floods — typically experienced once a century — are likely to happen in many regions at least once a year by 2050, even if global warming is limited to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. The harrowing images of Australia’s bushfires also show what awaits us if we continue on our current path. We need to start having serious conversations and a coherent response to climate change. If the last decade was ten years of discussion, in the next decade we must implement solutions: they must be ten years of action.
Yet, if there is one trend which has changed our lives for better or worse since 2010, it is our existence in a technology-driven and social media-led world. This decade has revolutionised our lives through the smartphone and the smart home. Facebook’s active user base has grown sevenfold to 2.45 billion users over the past ten years. How can we understand the Brexit referendum without examining social media, or President Trump, who only started tweeting in earnest in 2011, without Twitter? Technology has played its part in enabling major political events, from the election of Trump to the Arab Spring. Social media shaped the viral #MeToo movement in 2017 – within twenty-four hours, 4.7 million people on Facebook and nearly one million on Twitter had used the hashtag. However, we are still learning the advantages and limits of social media. In the face of fake news and allegations of Russian hacking to echo-chambers and polarisation in the ‘Twitterverse’, we should now make social media a tool for more thoughtful, rigorous and compassionate discourse. Either way, technology is here to stay. The digital revolution has changed our lives, from public interactions in the workplace, with family and friends to our private lives, from banking and shopping to health. All of our lives and workplaces are rapidly changing due to automation and technological advances. Now, it is time to chart the boundaries of the digital revolution, utilising the many positive changes it can bring – but also being wary of its limits.
Christmas and the New Year provide an opportunity to listen, reflect and remember that which brings us together. Let us also contemplate on our lives in the last decade, for they have undoubtedly been tumultuous years of change. We should celebrate the many transformations in our lives from technology to politics, but also commit to addressing urgent issues such as the environment we now need to resolve.