Angry World - Great Unraveling or Wake-up Call?

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Angry World - Great Unraveling or Wake-up Call?

Salzburg Global Fellows and board members gather for evening panel discussion in Vienna reviewing state of play in the world

Salzburg Global Vice President Clare Shine moderates the discussion held at RBI in Vienna [Picture: Salzburg Global Seminar/Luiza Puiu] 

An inspiring, enjoyable, and challenging debate took place as part of Salzburg Global Seminar’s 70th-anniversary celebrations.

More than 100 people convened in Vienna on Thursday, March 23 for a discussion titled “Angry World: Great Unraveling… or Wake-up Call?

The discussion, which took place as part of Salzburg Global’s March Board Meeting, was hosted by Raiffeisen Bank International.

Salzburg Global Fellows and Salzburg Global’s international Board of Directors attended the event. Salzburg Global Vice President and Chief Program Officer Clare Shine moderated a panel which featured Shalini Randeria, Oliver Rathkolb, and Florian Scholochow. 

Opening the debate, each speaker was invited to offer their thoughts on how they saw the world. Rathkolb, chair of the Institute for Contemporary History at the University of Vienna, said the “angry world” was only part of the story, and an additional emphasis should be placed on apathy.

Randeria, the rector at the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM), said her Indian grandparents grew up in a world where the West was ambivalent toward them. There were also signs of hypocrisy. They had textbooks describing the virtues of democracy, but this was not evident in the society they were living in at the time.

She referred to an incident which happened as India gained independence from Britain. Her grandfather had a conversation where the question came up how they should think about Britain from that point onward. Someone suggested focusing on “the good things” India achieved under British rule and instead placing their focus on what was in front of them. Randeria said this type of attitude required a “different leadership.”

Scholochow, CEO and founder of mohemian ventures, and co-founder of World Data Lab said he was passionate about entrepreneurship because it allowed him to see opportunities where others saw trash. Scholochow expressed in an “angry world” people must see it as a privilege they can vote. 

Rathkolb raised the point some politicians lacked a global outlook. He cited calls made a decade ago for a Marshall Plan for Africa, from which he claimed nothing materialized. On a separate note, Rathkolb suggested a digital revolution is taking place but a large section of society remains excluded when it comes to political control.

Randeria suggested we are at a point in time when the media can make people feel deprived in comparison to people living in other countries, which can lead to people exiting with their feet or using their voice. In some cases, some people can vote but choose only to use their voice and protest. Scholochow suggested the amount of information provided by different media outlets was too large for people to consume. This is in stark contrast to the amount of information available and the number of voices which existed a couple of decades ago.

During the discussion, guests had an opportunity to ask the panelists questions. These questions covered topics such as how to recalibrate democracies to avoid political entrepreneurs hijacking them. A guest also queried how multinational organizations were still able to avoid paying tax. This statement linked to another point about how the systems in place can promote cynicism and a lack of faith. Randeria suggested multinational corporations have had a history of not wanting to pay taxes at home and enjoying benefits abroad, and that governments have lost legitimacy when they've been unable to place citizens’ needs first. 

The panel discussed the need to transmit positive experiences of liberal democracies to the next generation and provide a better digital education. Rathkolb said, “We need more historians to conserve history in a way so it isn’t manipulated by politicians.” Before the discussion came to an end, one guest asked whether any future outlook could be positive, citing human nature as “self-destructive.” 

Guests considered who the demos were, the lack of accountability some institutions had, and the courage needed to make clean breaks with new ways of thinking. Shine said intergovernmental organizations, when moving forward, had to think of inclusiveness, having in mind “voice, power, and people.”

In his closing remarks, Salzburg Global President and CEO Stephen Salyer said the discussion had been inspiring and expressed his thanks to all those who made the evening possible, including Raiffeisen Bank International.

Salyer discussed Salzburg Global’s post-World War II origins and its progression to what it stands for today. He said Salzburg Global’s existence showed things could be done, and he was a believer in hope over experience. He said, “We can take responsibility. We can make a difference in the world. We need a lot more of that.”


The panel discussion Angry World: Great Unraveling... or Wake-up Call? was organized under the auspices of Salzburg Global Seminar, Austria and kindly hosted by Raiffeisen Bank International on Thursday, March 23, 2017. You can read tweets from the evening via the #SGSrbi hashtag. You can view photos from the event by clicking here.