Trends Identified

Trend name
Description
Published
Report
Publisher
Grim Reaping
Simultaneous breadbasket failures threaten sufficiency of global food supply
2018
The Global Risks Report 2018
World Economic Forum (WEF)
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A Tangled Web
Artificial intelligence “weeds” proliferate, choking off the performance of the internet
2018
The Global Risks Report 2018
World Economic Forum (WEF)
view report
The Death of Trade
Bilateral trade wars cascade and multilateral dispute resolution institutions are too weak to respond
2018
The Global Risks Report 2018
World Economic Forum (WEF)
view report
Precision Extinction
AI-piloted drone ships wipe out a large proportion of global fish stocks
2018
The Global Risks Report 2018
World Economic Forum (WEF)
view report
Into the Abyss
A cascading series of economic/financial crises overwhelm political and policy responses
2018
The Global Risks Report 2018
World Economic Forum (WEF)
view report
Inequality Ingested
Bioengineering and cognition-enhancing drugs widen the gulf between haves and have-nots
2018
The Global Risks Report 2018
World Economic Forum (WEF)
view report
War without Rules
State-on-state cyberattacks escalate unpredictably owing to a lack of agreed protocols
2018
The Global Risks Report 2018
World Economic Forum (WEF)
view report
Identity Geopolitics
Self-determination around contested borders sparks regional conflict
2018
The Global Risks Report 2018
World Economic Forum (WEF)
view report
Walled Off
Regulatory, cybersecurity and protectionist concerns lead to the fragmentation of the internet
2018
The Global Risks Report 2018
World Economic Forum (WEF)
view report
Power and Values
A period of change in the international system is destabilizing assumptions about global order. Last year’s Global Risks Report argued that the world is becoming not just multipolar, but also “multiconceptual”. This chapter further examines how changing power dynamics and diverging norms and values are affecting global politics and the global economy. The chapter begins by outlining how normative differences increasingly shape domestic and international politics. It then highlights three trends with the potential to trigger disruptive change: (1) the difficulty of sustaining global consensus on ethically charged issues such as human rights; (2) intensifying pressure on multilateralism and dispute-settlement mechanisms; and (3) states’ increasingly frequent use of geo-economic policy interventions.
2019
The Global Risks Report 2019 14th Edition
World Economic Forum (WEF)
view report