George Soros expresses concern that a polycrisis – with major contributors being artificial intelligence, climate change and Russian aggression – might be challenges too great for the open democratic society to survive. Dissecting the problem shatters any doubt the situation is severe but also implies how to prevail. Artificial Intelligence may as early as next year pose a major threat to elections in two leading democratic nations, the US and the United Kingdom, through advanced disinformation campaigns launched from arbitrary locations on the globe. Unregulated AI, climate changes and the Russian aggression on Ukraine, risking escalation into nuclear arms conflict between NATO and Russia, are all three global threats where worst case scenarios encompasses human or at least societal extinction. For democracy to survive it must evolve, rise to the occasion, and manage to provide solutions to these challenges that are global in nature. Today, reasonably strong democratic systems can be found in many so-called western countries. But at a global level governance is weak and very far from democratic. To remedy global threats, sometimes intertwined, in ways that appeal to You and I a capacity for global governance is required, stretching far beyond the theme of rule of power so clearly displayed by Russian aggression in Ukraine, that can handle multiple conflicts of interest simultaneously, managing polycrisis. As a concrete measure to solve global challenges, the organization Democracy Without Borders advocates the establishment of a Parliamentary Assembly in the United Nations subsequently transitioning into a democratic World Parliament. That can be achieved through one or several nations in the UN initiating the construction of a parliamentary network. The EU has already given its support.

Read Soros’ article in Swedish translation.

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