On December 6^th, 2021, the Globalisation and Development (GAD) Programme invited Mr. Chandran Nair, head of the Global Institute For Tomorrow (GIFT) and member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Governance for Sustainability and Experts Forum, to deliver a lecture to students on “Leadership in a Post-Western World”.

Mr. Chandran Nair

During the lecture, held online due to Covid-19 travel restrictions, Mr. Nair discussed with GAD faculty members and students about the increasingly prominent contribution of re-awakening Asian powers to the development agenda of the region and the world as a whole.

Mr. Nair assessed the importance of transcending the view of the future as merely “digital”, by embracing also the fundamental “biological” dimension of human life, so as to meet the steep challenges of the 21^st century, such as persisting poverty, growing inequality and increasing natural resource demand.

He also highlighted the crucial role that public governance institutions must play to fulfill the ultimate purpose of any economy, which is to satisfy people’s needs - starting with the most basic ones, such as sanitation, food, housing, electricity and alike.

In this sense, China, which dragged hundreds of millions of people out of poverty in the short span of a generation, represents a model for other nations across the developing world. Replicating such success across Sub-Saharan Africa or other vast Asian nations like India, Indonesia, Pakistan or Bangladesh would make a difference in the life of billions and significantly change both local and global trajectories of growth and human development.

Mr. Nair, who is a popular public speaker and a frequent contributor to major international media platforms (e.g. Time Magazine, Bloomberg, SCMP, Financial Times and many more) is also the author of books like “Consumptionomics: Asia's Role in Reshaping Capitalism”, “Saving the Planet and The Sustainable State: The Future of Government, Economy, and Society” as well as the upcoming “Dismantling Global White Privilege: Equity for a Post-Western World”.

Mr. Nair is also an Executive Committee Member at the Club of Rome, a leading scientific platform, which, since the late 1960s, has significantly contributed to the very definition of the global sustainable development agenda. The Club of Rome recently established a special “China Chapter”, which GAD’s own Dr. Monaco was invited to join in 2021.

For more information please consult:

https://www.weforum.org/people/chandran-nair

https://global-inst.com/dismantling-global-white-privilege/