Conclusions

Abstract

The world in 2015 and beyond is difficult to predict. Thinking back, who would have imagined the spread of the Internet, the collapse of the Soviet bloc or the post-9/11 world? What can we say at this stage? International development post-2015 is likely to be more global, more complex and about more than material well-being. This would suggest new policy roles, goals and means for state and non-state actors alike. Development problems are no longer the preserve of the South with answers in the North. Parts of Glasgow have lower life expectancy than Sub-Saharan Africa. Four of the world’s richest billionaires are Indian. Indeed, many policy issues are common to countries at different levels of economic or social development. This increased global interconnected-ness is expressing itself in a growing variety of ways. Take, for example:

• volatility in global markets (i.e. food, fuel and credit);

• climate change and natural resources;

• technology (notably ICTs and industrial biofuels);

• terrorism and security.

Today’s world is experiencing social, technological and environmental change at an unprecedented pace, across a variety of scales... processes are not only dynamic in themselves, but also interact in complex ways. The result is a variety of possible patterns — or pathways — of change (Leach et al., 2007:1).