(Italiano) “Tempesta perfetta” e “Oltre il Pil”: materiali per discutere
Monday March 5th, 2012 | 12:01 pm | 2030 - La tempesta perfetta, Felicità e benessere, Books
(Italiano) La sfida dei nove miliardi – un dossier per la rivista East
Monday January 31st, 2011 | 07:14 pm | Dialoghi tra padre e figlio, Future, Globalizzazione, Politica italiana, Statistica
Apocalittici e impiegati
Tuesday January 29th, 2008 | 09:21 am | Uncategorized
Nowadays it’s difficult to find somebody who believes in a revolution that will put an end to the capitalistic system. However, many people think that the actual global system will collapse, because it’s not able to cope with the problems of the 21st century. This apocalyptic scenario is a nightmare and not a dream, because it would mean terrible conditions of life, much worse than today, for billions of people. But the economic, energy and environmental problems are so serious that we cannot take for granted the views of people who tell us that everything is under control. Between apocalypse and unjustified optimism, there is just a narrow road of governance and critical analysis.
Sei top down o bottom up?
Monday November 26th, 2007 | 10:33 pm | Uncategorized
You can stand on the right or on the left of the political circus, but a new dimension is now getting critical. There are people who believe in the political institutions and in the need to improve their functioning in order to control globalisation and others who think that the only useful political activity can be at the local level and that any valid change should come from the bottom. For me it’s obvious that local best practices, national politics, international governance are all necessary. It’s no use to play them one against the other, as if they were different ideologies. But more and more I meet people who are just “top down” or “bottom up”.
La grande sfida della governance mondiale
Friday November 16th, 2007 | 06:50 pm | Uncategorized
We will not have a world government in the near future, but we can’t survive without a global governance: these are my conclusions after having been in charge of the journalists’ desk of the World Energy Congress, going through all the speeches and debates to produce with my team a hundred of press releases. We need global governance for a secure flow of oil, gas and electricity between different countries, for reducing the international speculation on energy prices, for the use of nuclear energy, for drafting a post Kyoto agreement acceptable to all and really useful for curbing the CO2 emissions, for all the consequences of the climate change. We need leaders with vision and courage and a great pressure from public opinion.
Viva la democrazia! Sì, ma quale?
Sunday November 11th, 2007 | 10:18 am | Uncategorized
How do we imagine democracy in the 21st century? I don’t think that the system of electing political representatives for four or five years, as envisaged two hundred years ago, is still satisfactory for the citizens of modern states. On the other hand the forms of direct participation, now technically possible through the Net, are very dangerous because the majority is uninformed and tends to decide without considering all the aspects of each issue. Other systems are under trial: “democracy by ballot” (a group of citizens is chosen to get informed and decide on each issue), “democracy by media”, mobilizing people through television or internet, or “primary voting” on very general issues, just to confirm a ruling class that has already been selected. Each system has its own defects. Probably the only possible, even if partial, answer is democracy through the multiplication of local initiatives offering to the citizens a place to debate, as once it happened in the party meetings. It’s a process just starting in Italy, but the demand for participation is high.
Mi chiamo Speroni, mio nonno era mugnaio sull’Olona, però…
Sunday September 30th, 2007 | 07:41 am | Amarcord, Europa, Nord e Sud
About the risk of secession in Italy, my family name, the hurried way in which people read articles on the screen…
Se il Belgio si divide l’Italia esplode
Sunday September 23rd, 2007 | 02:05 pm | Uncategorized
Italy like Belgium? In a recent comment on the Belgian crisis, The Economist wrote: “Sometimes it is right for a country to recognize that a job is done”. States are changing all over Europe, and secessions are not necessarily traumatic as they used to be. See Czechoslovakia. In Italy the North and the South are more and more apart, so a “divorce” becomes possible, even if it’s frightening for most of the population.
Se in Italia ci fosse un Al Gore
Tuesday April 3rd, 2007 | 06:22 pm | Uncategorized
The climate change is confirmed by recent reports. Something is happening: Al Gore started his campaign because he realized that this is the most important topic for humanity in the next decades; the European Council took important decisions; the Italian government announced a plan and committed a project to Pasquale Pistorio. But the issue is not really felt by the public opinion.
Don’t throw your compass into the sea
Thursday January 12th, 2006 | 06:54 pm | Uncategorized
Is the Gdp (Gross domestic product) a correct way to measure the progress of a nation? The problem is well known to statisticians and economists, with controversies that you can read in wikipedia and in many papers. Even the United Nations through its agency Undp, has launched a few years ago a new indicator, the Human Development Index, which takes into consideration not only the economic wealth, but also education and life expectancy.
In recent times, the Gdp problem is becoming more and more political and not only statistical. For many reasons: Read more…
