As we embark on the start of the 2020s, our politics and societies seem more divided than ever. The Middle East totters on further instability, climate change creates extremes, Brexit puts up yet more barriers to travel and work, and populism destabilises long-established political regimes. As a result, our societies seem more polarised than ever.
This has real dangers for our communities. In Britain, for example, as the contentious Brexit vote is enacted following a referendum that caused the death of an MP from violent extremism, far-right referrals have rocketed and several neo-Nazi teenagers have been gaoled for planning violent acts.
What has caused such divisions and violence to appear in our societies? Why are we suddenly more polarised than ever before? How long will this instability last? Or were the last years of the 20th century simply an anomaly of stability and we’re now returning to the tempestuous norm?
