Global Futures Initiative

Today governments pursue nation-based strategies that generate more conflict than cooperation while draining resources essential to meet basic human needs.  The rapid growth of transnational commerce expands production but fails to deliver equitable distribution or even assure the minimal survival needs for millions of people.  The clash of nationalistic competition and economic globalization impedes agreement on priorities and resource commitments vital for sustainable development.

Lacking broad enough recognition of shared fundamental values, dire threats to human existence seem required to awaken a sense of common humanity sufficient to galvanize wide cooperation.  Decades ago the horrors of world wars spurred efforts to preclude their repetition.  Currently the debate over global warming weighs the threat of irreversible environmental damage against the economic and political costs of lifestyle changes.  The international community’s response to each new “disease of the day” commands resources but only so far and so long as the potential threat remains globally compelling.

Rather than temporary motivation derived from negative threats, support for long-term development requires positive public understanding of shared human values.  Too often political posturing and media reports highlight differences among peoples more than their common aspirations and struggles.  Fortunately, the technological revolutions in communication and transportation that drive a globalizing economy also facilitate unprecedented direct exchanges of information and personnel.  Such opportunities for unfiltered personal contact offer new learning experiences where the discovery of unrecognized commonalities in individual, family and community values may fracture erroneous stereotypes etched in national psyches.

Internationally-oriented universities can play an important role in this process.  Students enrolled in higher education outside their country more than doubled from 2000-2012 to 4.5 million.  With spiraling numbers of foreign students and the growth of international online education, exciting possibilities exist for integrating cross-cultural dialogue and comparative perspectives in the classroom.  Innovative research and outreach efforts offer other potential avenues for educational initiatives aimed at discerning and enhancing shared values.

Adding such purposeful endeavors to other types of international interconnections presents real potential for nurturing the grassroots empathy essential for cooperative development initiatives.  The task will be neither quick nor easy, but interactions that help identify and strengthen a foundation of shared human values offer a promising route to build support needed for more equitable and sustainable global development.

John M. Kline is a professor of International Business Diplomacy in the School of Foreign Service.