20:21 Vision

What can the successes and failures of the 20th century teach us as the world faces an uncertain future in the 21st? The attacks on 11 September 2001 shook the rich West out of its complacency: suddenly, peace looked to be in peril. Even before that time prosperity was already at risk, as the high-tech stockmarket boom turned to bust and campaigns were mounted against the perceived evils of capitalist globalization - inequality, pollution and financial instability. Yet, in the decade following the end of the Cold War, prospects had never looked so rosy, with peace prevailing between the world's great powers, with billions of people joining the world market economy and with great waves of technological change driving economies forward. What can we make of such confusion and disappointment? What will the 21st century be like? Bill Emmott argues that the best way to think about the future is to look back at the past, at the forces that have shaped our world and at what they tell you about the things that really matter - whather we are at peace or war, in a state of liberty or repression, or in a period of prosperity or depression.
Two questions rise above all others: can capitalism continue to be the dominant force in the world, and how will peace and democracy prevail in these times of fear and instability?