The Elders: Leading with a New Mindset

Short-termism in politics and policymaking is a significant issue that has far-reaching consequences, particularly in the context of climate change – a worrying trend that was central to the conversation we had with The Elders at The Conduit.

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The pandemic has highlighted the need for comprehensive and long-term planning to address global crises. The WHO Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, Co-Chaired by Helen Clark, identified the lack of WHO authority, insufficient legal frameworks, and lack of solidarity among countries as key issues that contributed to the pandemic’s spread. The pandemic also highlighted the multisectoral impacts of global crises, like the toll on education, domestic violence cases, and broadly the global economy. In other words, it wasn’t just a health issue.

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However, the issues highlighted by the pandemic are true for other forms of existential crises facing our generation, such as nuclear warfare and climate change.

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This is particularly prevalent given the rise in climate anxiety as a phenomenon. In 2021, the ONS reported that 75% of adults in Great Britain said they were worried about the impact of climate change, common themes of which included:

1.?????? People’s concern for their family and future generations

2.?????? Anxiety and helplessness

3.?????? The expense of making eco-friendly changes [1]

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But, in what was coined a “deep trough” of existential dread, who is to blame?

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Well, it’s not just short-termism but also the addition of weak leadership. Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein mentioned this as a significant hinderance amongst our global governance. He rightly highlighted that our current institutions are old and decaying, a reason stemming from weak leadership. Leadership, he says, has been subject to a pernicious intrusion of modern marketing techniques leading to the superficiality of important issues and the limiting of democracy to popularity contests. Aptly put by Zeid, we are “mortgaging the future of our children over profit”.

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But how can we solve weak leadership and how do we challenge short-termism in politics?

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Well for a start, The Elders suggest that states need to confront their vested interests, look after their people, ensure that there’s space for innovation and creation and not discard those that are most vulnerable in the process. It is well known that vulnerable and minority populations bear a disproportionate negative risk, ringing particularly true when looking to environmental injustices. Environmental racism refers to the unequal access to a clean environment and basic environmental resources based on race.

Pressure on the state is important as although there are many other non-state actors that can be influencers, the state still remains the guarantor to all your rights, and also poses the greatest threat to them.

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States also need to be aware that we may not have shared values across our political systems, but we do have shared interests and there is great need for better collaboration. Mary Robinson makes the striking point that leadership needs to be less hierarchical and more collaborative.

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Additionally, there needs to be a consistent momentum for change. There must be consistent pressure from the ground up starting with us as individuals, more intellectual rigour within our international debates and, according to Mary Robinson, less diplomatic politeness in the global sphere to create consistent positive change. Helen Clark notes that the key is in consistency. In other words, we cannot start a movement and allow it to die down to then be reignited later, with the cycle repeating – a difficult challenge when short-termism also infiltrates our media.

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As individuals, the task of creating real change can be overwhelming and seem like an impossible task, but The Elders’ wisdom and experience informs us that there is real strength in collaboration and community. There are actionable things we can do on a small scale that have the potential to influence our wider world, such as educating yourself and those around us, advocating for change, supporting necessary policy measures, taking action and being involved in difficult conversations, as well as fostering equality and solidarity between our communities. By working together, we can change course.

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In conclusion, we need to address short-termism and weak leadership in policymaking to effectively address global crises such as climate change. We need to prioritize comprehensive and long-term planning, hold stakeholders accountable, and advocate for effective mitigation and adaptation measures. We need to ensure an equitable system for countermeasures and take vested interests out of the equation to focus on the future of humanity.

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At The Conduit, we strive to facilitate these conversations to finding solutions to global problems, to find out more about what we do and become a part of our community, click here .

To find out more about The Elders and their phenomenal work, click here .

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Citations:

[1] Three-quarters of adults in Great Britain worry about climate change - Office for National Statistics ( ons.gov.uk )