Fireside Chat, Panel
David Miliband on the future of liberalism
- Brexit is predicted to inflict social, economic, and political damage on the United Kingdom for the next thirty years, while global fragmentation of politics is noted as affecting 15% to 20% of European countries, with the notable exceptions of Hungary and Poland.
- Political reforms for the center-left are planned to address inequality through higher minimum wages, expanded earned income tax credits, and universal health care, acknowledging that the future majority of jobs will reside in the service economy rather than manufacturing.
- A shift toward an over-internalized European Union is proposed as the solution to current management failures, alongside calls for increased powers for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and greater global commitment to trade assistance for workers displaced by international deals.
- China is characterized as having become more illiberal and authoritarian over the last 15 to 20 years, utilizing a system that combines stability with long-term planning to expand influence in Africa and Latin America, creating a risk that it may establish a parallel international system if provoked.
- The humanitarian system faces a crisis where the average duration of displacement for refugees is 17 years, humanitarian workers are increasingly under threat, and the needs for aid are growing faster than the capacity to meet them, necessitating an internationalized approach to conflict resolution that includes non-state actors.
- Proposals to introduce a global financial transactions tax have stalled due to a lack of U.S. and select European country participation, while current political tensions involve warnings that tariffs or "politics of poison" would harm domestic populations as much as, or more than, their intended foreign targets.