Climate Fiction, Climate Theory: Decolonising Imaginations of Global Futures

The international politics of climate change invokes the imagination of various potential global futures, ranging from techno-optimist visions of ecological modernisation to apocalyptic nightmares of climate chaos. This article argues that most dominant framings of the future in climate policy imaginaries tend to be depoliticised and linear visions of universal, homogenous time, with little spatio-temporal or ecological plurality. This article aims to convince IR scholars of climate politics that Africanfuturist climate fiction novels can contribute to the decolonisation of climate politics through radically different socio-climatic imaginaries to those that dominate mainstream imaginations of climate futures. The Africanfuturist climate fiction novels of authors such as Nnedi Okorafor, Lauren Beukes and Doris Lessing imagine different spaces, temporalities, ecologies and politics. Reading them as climate theory, they offer the possibility of a more decolonised climate politics, in which issues of land and climate justice, loss and damage, extractive political economies and the racialised and gendered violence of capitalism are central.

Local Youth, Global Futures. Experiences, Aspirations and Citizenship of Young Cricketers of Migrant Origin in Italy

This contribution discusses the relationship between sport and citizenship by exploring the citizenship paths described by young cricketers of Bangladeshi origin living in Venice (Italy). In particular, it focuses on the processes of misrecognition, enacted both by natives and their older countrymen, that these youths are suffering in their everyday life and that are rooted and reflected in their playing cricket in the neighbourhood. Starting from these premises, their aspired citizenship paths are described, revealing how the European passport, often an aspiration in itself, may become a passe-partout to react to misrecognition, allowing them to describe aspirations, reflected also in their sports practices, that are nationally, transnationally and globally deployed and that may aim, although through an individual claim, to restore the disruptions lived by the whole Bangladeshi diaspora. In this sense, within their distinctive aspired citizenship paths, the borders between distinction/integration with their older countrymen and native people are blurred, thus revealing their willingness to enjoy the same rights as their native peers as well as to overcome the differential inclusion suffered by their parents.

Human Capital, Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction Nexus: Why Investment in Free Compulsory Universal Education Matters for Africa

This study uses a quantitative correlational design model to investigate the effects of human capital and economic growth on poverty reduction. The study sampled and analyzed 140 countries’ data from United Nations Human Development Index report, 2010 to 2018. Comparing data from Africa, Europe and Asia, the study found that human capital had a positive effect on economic growth, while economic growth had a negative effect on poverty. The study argues that poverty reduction in Africa matters in creating sustainable global futures and recommends investment into free universal pre-tertiary education as a strategy to combat poverty.

Tantangan Agama di Era Globalisasi: Analisis Strategi Komunikasi, Karakteristik dan Materi Dakwah

The revolution in technology and communication media in this era of globalization has made the phenomenon of Islamic da'wah experience significant progress globally. This can be seen when the da'wah style has used advances in information technology so that the da'wah message is more widespread that is able to touch international aspects. But in reality, this change in pattern gave birth to new problems in the world of da'wah. This article tries to answer the main problems formulated in the major questions, namely; What are the challenges of religion in the era of globalization, using an analysis of communication strategies, characteristics and material for da'wah? According to Gill Branston and Roy Stafford (2010), there are several points explained about globalization. First, approaches to globalized media. Explain how to approach da'wah in the use of global media. Second, global–local flows. Explain how far the development of the flow of da'wah ideas that have reached the global world. Third, global futures? Explain how changes will occur in the world of da'wah in the future global era. In the end, the research provides insight into the topic of the problem in this paper. First, practically the da'wah movement in information technology and media in the era of globalization is based on Islam rahmatan lil 'alamin. Even though on the other hand, the impact of the globalization process related to religious life is the increasingly diminishing space for human religiosity itself. Second, the orientation in spreading da'wah globally is ukhuwah basyariyah which always fosters brotherhood among human beings. The attitude of humanism regardless of religious background, skin color and race. Third, have hope in the waiting period for the day to come (Al-Muntazhar). A principle that gives good news about a bright future and the implementation of all social justice for all mankind.

Alternative futures for global biological invasions

Scenario analysis has emerged as a key tool to analyze complex and uncertain future socio-ecological developments. However, currently existing global scenarios (narratives of how the world may develop) have neglected biological invasions, a major threat to biodiversity and the economy. Here, we use a novel participatory process to develop a diverse set of global biological invasion scenarios spanning a wide range of plausible global futures through to 2050. We adapted the widely used “two axes” scenario analysis approach to develop four families of four scenarios each, resulting in 16 scenarios that were later clustered into four contrasting sets of futures. Our analysis highlights that socioeconomic developments and technological innovation have the potential to shape biological invasions, in addition to well-known drivers, such as climate and human land use change and global trade. Our scenarios partially align with the shared socioeconomic pathways created by the climate change research community. Several factors that drive differences in biological invasions were underrepresented in the shared socioeconomic pathways; in particular, the implementation of biosecurity policies. We argue that including factors related to public environmental awareness and technological and trade development in global scenarios and models is essential to adequately consider biological invasions in global environmental assessments and thereby obtain a more integrative picture of future social–ecological developments.

The Global Futures Lab

This chapter critiques the politics behind the representations of the future conjectured by contemporary creative industries and offers a counter-model based in specific forms of ‘cultural determinism’. It argues that the vast majority of creative speculations were and still are a mere representation of the fears and dreams of a restricted part of the global community, and are defined by a distinguishable style of Hollywoodesque sci-fi imaginary or the taste of the dominating design establishment. Drawing on the empirical experiential research undertaken by the Global Futures Lab—which invites international students to reflect upon their personal idea of future—this chapter advocates the need for more pluralist perspectives and localized visions in which traditions and belief shape alternative and hyper-contextual future realities.

Alternative futures for global biological invasions

Scenario analysis has emerged as a key tool to analyze complex and uncertain future socio-ecological developments. However, current global scenarios (narratives of how the world may develop) have neglected biological invasions, a major threat to biodiversity and the economy. We used a novel participatory process to develop a diverse set of global biological invasion scenarios spanning a wide breadth of plausible global futures through 2050. We adapted the widely used “two axes” scenario analysis approach to develop four families of four scenarios each, resulting in 16 scenarios that were later clustered into four contrasting sets of futures. Our analysis highlighted that socio-economic developments and changes in sustainability policies and lifestyle have the potential to shape biological invasions, in addition to well-known ecological drivers, such as climate and human land use change. Our scenarios align fairly well with the recently developed shared socio-economic pathways, but the factors that drive differences in biological invasions are underrepresented there. Including these factors in global scenarios and models is essential to adequately consider biological invasions in global environmental assessments, and obtain a more integrative picture of future socio-ecological developments.