Listening to the Voice of Humanity

By Steven Kull

This article was originally published in the Spring | Summer 2010 issue of Kosmos Journal

When we look at world conditions and project current trends into the future we see much that is disturbing--environmental degradation, the proliferation of nuclear weapons, persisting poverty and injustice, violent conflict, the fiscal collapse of democratic governments.The institutions that have the greatest power--nation states, corporations, and organized interest groups--seem locked in patterns of self-interested behavior such that the necessary changes are hard to imagine.

Yet when we look to the past we see that there have been remarkable evolutionary changes--the emergence of democracy, the abolition of slavery, universally recognized principles of the rights of women and minorities, concern for the environment, international laws against aggressive wars and significant efforts by thosein wealthy nations to address global poverty. During the run-up to these changes they too surely seemed unimaginable.

So what is it that brings about such shifts?...

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Global Views of United States Improve While Other Countries Decline

Global views of the United States have improved markedly over the last year while views of many countries have become more negative, according to the latest BBC World Service poll across 28 countries. For the first time since the BBC started tracking in 2005, views of the United States' influence in the world are now more positive than negative on average.

The survey, conducted by GlobeScan/PIPA among more than 29,000 adults, asked respondents to say whether they considered the influence of different countries in the world to be mostly positive or mostly negative. It found that the United States is viewed positively on balance in 20 of 28 countries, with an average of 46 per cent now saying it has a mostly positive influence in the world, while 34 per cent say it has a negative influence.

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