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Society and Economic DynamicsInnovation and Organization

Society and Economic Dynamics

Research Unit: Innovation and Organization





Exploration of Working Fields
 

v The Future of Globalization  
 
  Exploration of Future Research Fields
  

In addition to work on current research projects, preparatory studies are being described and initial hypotheses are being developed in two fields of research.
     
 
  The Future of Globalization  

Two impasses are looming ever larger in the process of economic globalization.  First, it is impossible to ignore the inimical and self-destructive tendencies of market radicalism and to continue permitting them to run their course.  Second, it is neither possible nor desirable simply to stop the globalization process, much less reverse it.  As the old responses and solutions increasingly fail to fit the new questions and problems, social discoveries and inventions that point to ways out of this predicament gain importance. The exploratory work area on the future of globalization focuses on seeking out such innovations and analyzing them for future viability.

Building on past contributions to vision theory and to futures research, this work centers on wild-card analyses and discursive scenarios. The results have fed into various investigations, such as those on multistakeholder concepts (Discussion Paper FS II 02-105), the interinstitutional project entitled "The Future of Mobility: Scenarios for 2020" (www.ifmo.de), and the new cooperative scenario project funded by the BMW Group, "Hydrogen Technology for China´s Automotive Quantum Leap."


Research fellow
Lutz Marz
E-mail: lutz@wzb.eu

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Last change: July 15, 2004