Political Time Zones

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Political Time Zones: Surviving the Future

Surviving the Future

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David Runciman looks at how democracies can better grapple with the future.

We have always been on the brink of apocalypse. It's a claim made in every era. But now predictions of our imminent destruction have considerably more substance. We face cataclysmic threats - climate change, pandemics, demographic shifts, economic upheaval. That puts pressure on how politics plays out across the world. In fact, it's one of the distinctive features of 21st century politics - the future is quite hard to imagine. 

And that has led to political leaders around the world turning endlessly to the past.

In episode two of Political Time Zones, David Runciman looks at how the present is being pulled apart by the past and the future. How might we re-imagine the relationship between the past, present and the future to help us survive the apocalypse?

Presenter: David Runciman
Producer: Ant Adeane
A Novel production for BBC Radio 4

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How might democracies think more deeply about time to tackle the challenges of the future?

David Runciman looks at how democracies might think more deeply about time to tackle the challenges of the future.

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