A Year That Upended Our Thinking: IGCC Experts Look Back at 2023
The past year saw a convergence of escalating crises: Year two of Russia’s war in Ukraine. The fallout for the poorest countries in higher food and energy prices. Climate catastrophes. Israel and Hamas at war. A new nadir in U.S.-China relations. Trade wars. Inflation. Rising populism, polarization, and democratic backsliding.
Moments of deep crisis offer a chance to reexamine old assumptions, and open space for new approaches and possibilities. Here, IGCC experts from across the University of California reflect on assumptions they are rethinking in light of a turbulent and changing world.
Jump to a specific topic:
- Richard Matthew: Climate Change Is Cause for Alarm—Not Surrender
- Georgia Kernell: Rethinking Misinformation—It’s Not Just Social Media’s Fault
- Pamela Ban and Kevin Esterling: Far-Right Politics and Upended Assumptions about Congressional Parties—and Democratic Governance
- Robert Thomas: A Year of Getting it Wrong
- Ajay Shenoy: Is Democracy Gaining Ground Anywhere?
- Jeannette Money: The Liberal International Order Needs Reexamination
- Eric Min: The Year Interstate War Went from Historic Abstraction to Painful Reality
- Paul Almeida: Why We Need to Rethink Climate Civic Engagement
- Lauren Young: Who Will Stand Up for Democracy?
- Cecilia Farfán Méndez: Rethinking Evidence-Informed Policymaking in Light of the Failed War on Drugs
- Heather Stoll: Engaging with Democracy’s Decline as a Scholar and Teacher
- Scott Tait: An Unexpected Case for Optimism
