»Märkte allein werden weder den Klimawandel aufhalten noch zu einer gerechteren Verteilung des Wohlstands führen«

Liberal democracies are today confronted with a wave of popular distrust in their ability to serve the majority of their citizens and solve the multiple crises that threaten our future. This threatens to lead us into a world of dangerous populist policies exploiting the anger without addressing the real risks, ranging from climate change to unbearable inequalities, or major global conflicts. To avert major damages to humanity and the planet, we must urgently get to the root causes of people’s resentment.

There is ample evidence today that this distrust is not only, but to a large extent, driven by the widely shared experience of a real or perceived loss of control over one’s own livelihood and the trajectory of societal changes. This sense of powerlessness has been triggered by shocks stemming from globalization and technological shifts, now amplified by climate change, AI and the inflation shock. And, decades of poorly managed globalization, overconfidence in the self-regulation of markets and austerity have hollowed out the ability of governments to respond to such crises effectively.

We are living through a critical period. Markets on their own will neither stop climate change nor lead to a less unequal distribution of wealth. Trickle-down has failed. We now face a choice between a conflictual protectionist backlash and a new suite of policies that are responsive to people’s concerns. There is a whole body of groundbreaking research on how to design new industrial policies, good jobs, better global governance and modern climate policies for all. It is now critical to develop them further and put them into practice. What is needed is a new political consensus addressing the deep drivers of people’s distrust instead of merely focusing on the symptoms, or falling into the trap of populists who pretend to have simple answers.

Any attempt to durably get citizens and their governments back into the driver’s seat has the potential to not only promote wellbeing for the many. It will help to once again foster trust in the ability of our societies to solve crises and secure a better future. We need an agenda for the people to win back the people. There is no time to waste.

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