He cited the surprising adoption of social media by authoritarian governments as an example, вЂњwhere they are not only using it to suppress but are actively learning about their own societies to better survive.вЂќДЄ pressing theme in the eveningвЂ™s questions was on the general perception of a decline in the West due to an ostensible inability by Western governments to effectively address an increasing number of challenges: from rising social inequality internally to economic вЂњconvergenceвЂќ with the emerging world (e.g. Paradoxically, technology is also increasing the amount of information that governments and other powers have access to and can manipulate. Yet, Burrows cautioned, this trend isnвЂ™t necessarily inevitable. The internet and other technologies are actively disseminating agency away from the nation-state and other institutions towards individuals. One broad trend Burrows was asked to speak on was the phenomenon of the rising вЂњpower of one,вЂќ the title of the opening chapter to BurrowsвЂ™ book. When asked about the future of the Middle East, Burrows was not too hopeful, forecasting that вЂњThe Middle East is going to be unstable for a generation or more.вЂќ Overall, Burrows was more worried, in the long term, вЂњabout the rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia,вЂќ which he sees as the defining conflict in the Middle East, compared to the recent rise of ISIS which he described as something that was вЂњpreventable.вЂќ Burrows cited demographic shifts and a bulging youth population coupled with a weak economy as a root cause for Middle East conflict that was likely to create a self-perpetuating cycle of crises. Over the course of the evening, discussion ranged on everything from the future of the Middle East to Western democraciesвЂ™ ability to not only cope with the future but innovate to better meet its challenges. On September 16, Mathew Burrows, now the director of the Brent Scowcroft Center on International SecurityвЂ™s Strategic Foresight Initiative, in conversation with Edward Luce, Financial TimesвЂ™ Washington columnist and commentator, discussed the impacts of these megatrends.

The book expands on his work on global trends at the US National Intelligence Council.

вЂњThis is the closest youвЂ™re going to come to seeing through the fog and making sense of the megatrends that are comingвЂќ said Frederick Kempe, Atlantic Council President and CEO, of Mathew BurrowsвЂ™ latest publication, The Future Declassified: Megatrends that Will Undo the World Unless We Take Action.

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