A time for new thinking? Michael Gove and Boris Johnson hold a press conference Brexit HQ in Westminster, London after the UK's historic vote to leave the EU. Credit: Mary Turner/PA Wire/Press Association Images. All rights reserved.Most of the analysis of 'Brexit in recent days has been focused on looking at Britain's domestic political upheavals and then turning the gaze outwards. It might also make sense, however, to consider the wider global dimension before focusing on the more immediate.
This series of columns has long emphasised that global stability in the 21st century is determined by three factors: economy, environment and security. These individual elements have also been the focus of many other openDemocracy writers, who have contributed some of the best analysis of the post-2001 global predicament.
The core argument is that the world has a little over two decades to face three immense challenges. The first is that the worldwide economic system – the neoliberal model of free-market capitalism which evolved in the late 1970s – is not delivering sufficient equity and emancipation. After forty years it has proved unfit for purpose, yet remains a deeply entrenched system that is proving very difficult to modify.
