How we can tackle the world's three 'long challenges'

It requires rebuilding collective belief in the future.

- Tharman Shanmugaratnam

Our largest governance challenges, internationally, are now the long ones: where decisions today will determine if we secure people's well-being not only today but also for our children's generation and those that come after.

Climate change is foremost. Ways must be found to win popular support to accelerate the shift to a low-carbon future. It requires a fair transition, one that overcomes the anxieties over costs that have led to pushback within many populations. But it also means overcoming the short-sightedness that is now the norm in most societies, so as to ensure fairness not only today but also for future generations.

Likewise, the challenge of meeting the needs of steadily ageing societies, without sending the invoice to the next generation. And so too, dealing with AI (artificial intelligence) – the most profound technological change of our times, with benefits as well as risks that are likely to grow exponentially in the coming decade and beyond.

We can address these long challenges only by stretching our economic and political horizons. And by finding ways to rebuild optimism and solidarity within our societies, so that people can imagine how the future can be better for all. The collective belief in the future has to be both the means and the end.

BUILDING A REALISTIC OPTIMISM We are starting from a difficult place. Confidence in the future has been on the decline in most societies. They are also more divided. A survey of 19 high- and middle-income societies by Pew Research in 2022 found the majority feeling more divided than they did before the Covid-19 pandemic. Only three countries avoided this, including Singapore, where 75 per cent of people felt more united than before the pandemic. On top of all this, confidence in the multilateral order is at its lowest point.