Conference Report

Changing and Unchanging Values in the World of the Future

Fall 2001 (40 pages)
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This conference brought together a discussion of different perspectives on what future paradigm shifts will look like – in government, in foreign policy, in what constitutes “classics,” in economic and religious modes, and changes in the interaction between these values. The conference agreed that today’s Western society values democracy, constitutionalism, liberalism, rule of law, open society, and market economy. These are not contingent upon one another and may change. But the “needs and aspirations” of humanity will at their most essential core remain the same. The amount and type of power given to governments is not a fixed thing, and developments in the meaning of democracy and how it is achieved may illustrate this.

This conference was organized by David Fromkin. He is a Professor of International Relations, History, and Law, and former Director of the Frederick S. Pardee Center. He has worked as an attorney and a private investor, has been a member of the Council on Foreign Relations since 1976, and was the head of foreign policy for Hubert Humphrey in his presidential campaign of 1972.