A Manifesto for Social Progress.

Summary Deregulation, economic crisis, social tensions, democratic destabilization, war: will the period 1980-2030 replay the drama of 1890-1940, with the strong probability of being followed by environmental cataclysms sweeping everything in their path in the second half of the century? The situation seems more alarming every day, and it is intolerable to note the gap between the considerable possibilities, unequalled in the past, enjoyed by most societies around the world, and the poor performance of institutions and governments. Institutional failures and governance problems are everywhere, in both the private and public sectors. But we can do much better, we can build a better society. Drawing on the work of a global panel of social scientists, this manifesto proposes a vision based on a new way of thinking about and reforming our main institutional pillars: markets, business, social welfare policies and democratic deliberation mechanisms. It delivers a message of hope and a call to action, at a time when new threats to the future have arisen and the ideologies of the past century have been discredited. Neither the loss of illusions nor the rise of capitalism should justify an end to the quest for social justice. (Editor's summary).