What kind of world will we live in | Pandemic, Climate, Society

What kind of world will we live in with Pandemic, Climate, Society? The book, which contains the meeting texts of the Istanbul Policy Center on the pandemic between 2020 and 2022, was published. The book includes the opinions of experts in the context of scientific developments, human psychology, climate crisis and world politics.

According to Book, the concepts of uncertainty, speed, risk and turbulence have shaped the globalization studies carried out in the last two decades. Sociologists and political theorists argue that globalization is a period of uncertainty, speed, risk and multiple crises that are increasingly affecting all levels of social life.

What kind of world will we live in?

Multiple crises are security, economy, poverty, unemployment, water, food, land, climate change and global warming dimensions and societies are said to enter ‘turbulence’. Keyman predicts that in such an environment, ‘community management‘ will change in some axes. For example, with the increasing importance of the state, the capacity of the state to respond to crises (the quality of health workers in particular in the pandemic, hospitals, number of beds and spatial infrastructure) comes to the fore instead of the power of the state over individuals and local communities and folks.

The spread of inclusive management instead of power-based management is another important change. In this context, cooperation with different actors, approaching society through rights instead of identities and cultural norms, and also using discourses that strengthen social harmony instead of polarization are the principles of this approach. It is stated that an inclusive management approach will be effective in combating pandemics and similar crises.

How Pandemic, Climate, Society issues to affect our future?

Another parameter that has changed is the transformation of the economic growth approach into “sustainable inclusive development”. As the risks posed by the pandemic in basic needs and vital areas have shown, inclusive development is essential to be resilient to crises. In this respect, the United Nations’ “Sustainable Development Tools” will also gain importance in governance and will have a central place in the understanding of sustainable development in the cooperation of states with local governments, civil society and international organizations.

Although the Paris Agreement and Green Deal processes on global warming and climate change have gained importance, many countries are postponing their promises due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. According to the United Nations Intergovernmental Climate Report, it is soon published with a red code that global warming will rise above 2 degrees.

What kind of world will we live in, Social psychology!

If we need to focus on the comments and researches of academics who consider the pandemic from the perspective of social psychology, it is stated in a meeting that being a communitarian society is a protective factor in order to strengthen the togetherness, not the individual, and that social support is more effective in societies that emphasize the community compared to individualist societies. The project focusing on its own success can strengthen the unity of an individual who is defined in a holistic way in the context of their relationships instead of the individual.

According to one study, inequality and distrust of institutions are the two most important factors that increase the tendency to believe in conspiracy theories. The lack of trust makes people nervous, and therefore they are not believed even if an official institution tells the truth. In addition, lack of education is directly proportional to believing in conspiracy theories in a country.

Unwillingness to get vaccinated! What kind of world will we live in?

It’s not just conspiracy theories stemming from insecurity and lack of education that affect people’s unwillingness to get vaccinated. Perceptions about the degree of danger of the disease and the necessity of the vaccine may also guide the vaccine decision. In addition, people can decide whether to get vaccinated or not based on various issues, such as how accessible the vaccine is, its affordability if it is affordable, how easy it is to make an appointment at the health center.

According to new research, the paradigm that the threat makes people conservative is no longer relevant. According to the “Problem Foundations Model”, different types of threats produce different kinds of results. The threat of terrorism increases the tendency to become conservative, while the climate threat increases the tendency to move closer to the left.

International collaborations and the development

Because people decide which issue is based on which leader with political views knows the problem or can solve it. The pandemic poses multiple threats: scarcity, financial and health. Therefore, according to the findings, the pandemic has not brought people closer to the right or left.

Pandemic, Climate, Society offers useful insights in management, psychology and economics in this period when we face multiple crises. The developments in the world with the epidemic, its reflections in countries and how different crises are connected are mentioned. In summary, we can say that local and international collaborations and the development of management understanding in terms of inclusivity and capacity will be important against these crises caused by human error.