In this booklet from 2007, the Oxford Research Group makes a vision of the connection and future of a number of world problems with razor-sharp predictive value. In this book, they limit themselves to the four, according to them, main threats to the world, namely
- Climate change
- Competition for scarce resources
- Sidelining developing countries
- Global militarization.
They say each of these threats is related to the other three and will become more important as time goes on (beyond the initial terror), and the political will to take the bull by the horns is lacking. Therefore, the latter becomes more and more difficult the later one starts it.
One of the important remarks, without wishing to condone terrorism, is that each of these is greater than the terrorist threat, which in terms of impact in terms of death toll is much less than the newspapers would have you believe. Terrorism is a tactic used by different groups to achieve political, ideological, or religious goals through violence, intimidation, and fear. Its main objective is to instill fear in the target group.
Another important remark is that we, as a world population, only stand a good chance against these four threats if all nations cooperate. According to the authors, one must put pressure on politics from below. Unfortunately, the dispersion of resources is an obstacle to this cooperation. So we need willpower. From the top, from the bottom, from everyone.
This easy-to-read booklet from 2007 makes some short-term predictions, the realizations of which we have now been able to observe until 2018. The effects are getting bigger and bigger. The question is whether the claims that have not yet been realized will eventually come true.