Abstract
In recent decades, the intensification of social relations across world-space and world-time has both generated and responded to new global problems beyond the reach of any single nation-state. ‘The future of globalization’ explains that the most daunting tasks facing humanity in the 21st century are the reduction of global inequality, the preservation of our planet, and strengthening human security. The growing disparities in wealth and wellbeing, in particular, cast a dark shadow on the final question considered in this VSI: will we tackle our global problems in a cooperative manner or are we on the brink of a new era of conflict that might halt the powerful momentum of globalization?