Trends Identified
Global network development
Global networks will increasingly enable access to and provide information on commodities and capital assets. Global networks will increasingly be used for dissemination of post-truth information
2017
Strategic foresight analysis
NATO
Dominance of the commercial sector in technological development
The advances in defence technology developments/sales and space exploration/exploitation by commercial sectors have taken away the monopoly that used to be held by governments
2017
Strategic foresight analysis
NATO
Technological dependencies
Both society, and defence and security, have increasingly depended on certain technologies which have become essential in everyday lives
2017
Strategic foresight analysis
NATO
Globalization of financial resources
An increasingly interconnected global financial system makes it more vulnerable to attacks by both state and non-state actors
2017
Strategic foresight analysis
NATO
Geopolitical dimension of resources
Emerging technologies and the exploration opportunities availed by climate change may allow the discovery of mineral and energy resources in previously inaccessible and possibly disputed regions as the High North
2017
Strategic foresight analysis
NATO
Increased inequality
The bulk of the worlds population, the middle class, particularly in western society has felt the squeeze due to stagnation in real earnings after inflation adjustments, loss of benefits and overall compensation as the private sector has sought to reduce expanses by outsourcing support and labour costs and shift to part time versus full time employment.
2017
Strategic foresight analysis
NATO
Defence expenditures challenges in the West
A majority of NATO nations were able to change a decreasing defence spending trend into an increase in real terms 2016. political and national will would be required to sustain defence expenditures in competing priorities with limited budgets.
2017
Strategic foresight analysis
NATO
Environmental/climate change
The changes in climate change will bring challenges and opportunities. The changes to the climate imposes stresses on current ways of life, on individual's ability to subsist and on governments' abilities to keep pace and provide for the needs of their populations
2017
Strategic foresight analysis
NATO
Natural disasters
Natural disasters will have increasing impact, partly due to overall increases in the severity and prevalence of severe weather events, but also due changes in the regions and times of year where these events may occur.
2017
Strategic foresight analysis
NATO
Shift of Global Power
Potential rebalancing of power from the West to other regions could present political and economic challenges to NATO members. While many developed nations have been experiencing slower economic growth, developing nations with faster growth may translate their rising economic power into greater political and military influence. As a consequence, the ability of the international community to integrate rising powers and manage the associated changes peacefully will be decisive for the future. Otherwise, the potential for tension or conflict could be increased in new as well as traditional hotspots, or threaten assured access to the global commons,17 compromising international relations and security.
2013
Strategic Foresight Analysis 2013 Report
NATO