More and more negatively charged words are being used in the world’s most important political meeting places. – The term crisis is in danger of being overused, says the Norwegian head of research.
The UN General Assembly’s high-level week UNGA#78 brings together top leaders from around the world to discuss strategies related to, among other things, the UN’s sustainability goals for 2030. Photo: MIKE SEGAR / Reuters
Sea view
Published: 22/09/2023 15:26
Updated: 22/09/2023 16:17
The short version
New, negatively charged words, such as “polycrisis” and “permacrisis”, are used against global summits. It suggests increased pessimism and a more crisis-ridden perception of reality. Humanity has “opened the gates of hell”, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Wednesday this week. Research manager Ole Jacob Sending at Nupi warns against inflation in crisis rhetoric, but at the same time explains why this is used.
The summary is created with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) and quality assured by Aftenposten’s journalists.
Sea view
They paint a picture of a world characterized by ever-worsening crises, the world leaders participating in the UN’s high-level week in New York.
– Humanity has “opened the gates of hell” by allowing the climate crisis to worsen, said UN Secretary-General António Guterres Wednesday.
New crisis terms are also being used.
Now there is talk of both “polycrises” and “permacrises” at what is called the world’s most important political meeting place:
– For quite a long time, all UN summits had a certain idea of progress, and that “we will get this done together”, says Ole Jacob Sending. He is head of research at the Norwegian Foreign Policy Institute (Nupi).
– Now we see that what appears in the word cloud is much more negatively charged.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres on the podium during the UN General Assembly’s high-level week, earlier this week. Photo: Mike Segar / Reuters / NTB
Sea view
New words in a Norwegian context
Ahead of this year’s meeting, the UN association announced that this year world leaders are focusing on the global polycrisis.
Both “polycrisis” and “permacrisis” are new words in Norwegian public opinion.
The first time “polycrisis” was mentioned in a Norwegian medium was on 29 May 2020, in an article in Samtiden. Since then, the term has been used 32 times in the Norwegian media. Only once in 2020, followed by 15 times in 2022 and 16 times so far in 2023, according to the analysis company Retriever. The word perma-crisis was first mentioned in the Norwegian media in 2022. It was named the new word of the year by Collins Dictionary. Since then, the perma crisis has been mentioned 38 times in the Norwegian media, respectively 29 times in 2022 and nine times so far this year.
The UN is not alone in its crisis focus. The World Economic Forum’s (WEF’s) annual risk report, linked to the Davos summit in January this year, used the word polycrisis several times.
But what does that really mean?
More crisis-ridden perception of reality
Permacrisis is defined as “a longer period of instability and uncertainty”. Polycrisis describes a state where current and future dangers interact with each other. It creates a cluster of global hazards with compounding effects.
Centrally, it states that the overall effect of the crises exceeds the sum of each individual one, to create a global polycrisis.
Analytically, the term should be useful because by using it, one is drawn towards thinking about solutions in a far more holistic and global way.
The head of research at Nupi believes that the spread of more negatively charged terms is an indication that the perception of reality in the UN is more marked by crisis. It also suggests greater pessimism in the effort to reach The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals for 2030, the focus of the talks during the high-level week.
– It seems that there is a greater recognition that the world is really not going the right way, says Sending.
He describes UN Secretary-General Guterres as someone who “describes a world that is going off its hinges, and tries to mobilize for action by actively using the concept of crisis”.
Sending says the statements reflect a real development. At the same time, he believes that the term crisis is in danger of being overused.
– There are many negative things now happening at the same time. If something is to have political attention, it must be referred to as a crisis, and there is a danger of inflation in the use of the term, he says.
Ole Jacob Sending, head of research at Norway’s Foreign Policy Institute (Nupi)
The civilizing power of hypocrisy
There are currently few, if any, signs that the “gates of hell” have been opened if you look at your local environment in Norwegian cities and towns.
But there is a clear reason why leaders on the global stage use strong terms:
– It is highly unlikely that the sustainability targets will be achieved. At the same time, it must be remembered that they are an example of what Jon Elster calls in another context “the civilizing power of hypocrisy”. Ambitious goals are set, but there is a big gap between words and actions (in other words, hypocrisy). At the same time, the ambitious goals – over time – lead to doing more than you would otherwise do, says Sending.
Concepts such as polycrisis have been introduced, among other things, to mobilize resources for work on the sustainability goals, which are very high on the UN agenda.
– The term also helps to clarify how here in Norway we are largely influenced by things that are far away, e.g. climate change, inflation and war, says Sending.
Norway’s government is sending a strong delegation to New York, led by Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt, Development Minister Anne Beathe Tvinnereim, Climate and Environment Minister Espen Barth Eide and Health and Care Minister Ingvild Kjerkol also participate during the high-level week.
2023-09-22 13:26:29
#worlds #important #political #meeting #place #characterized #polycrisis #Humanity #opened #gates #hell
