Every day, World Politics Review examines discrete issues and events in specific places. But while we are comfortable with the details, we always make an effort to zoom out and look at the big picture, placing current news in the context of larger, longer-developing global trends.
In this year-in-review, we aim to do just that, identifying five global trends that are driving the global news that we follow every day. Those trends are:
Some of the trends from 2023 that we’ve identified are decidedly pessimistic. Others are less so or even cause for optimism. The paradox of these global trends, of course, is that the overwhelming majority of us live decidedly local lives driven mainly by the eternal urgencies of providing as best we can for our families and communities. The daily struggles and triumphs we encounter along the way understandably crowd out developments and trends that can seem to be, and often are, distant.