As part of planning 2025, we took the opportunity to explore Kairos Future’s insights on the year to come, which we are happy to share with you in a summarized form. Follow us regularly if you want to stay updated on the insights and driving forces that will shape our near future, starting already this year.
Whats on 2025 – Part of a greater shift
The changes we are now witnessing across various areas are part of a broader shift.
The post-war era’s societal focus—characterized by a sense of community, social development, technical expertise, and investments in growth and infrastructure—was followed by the protest movements of the late 1960s and 1970s, reacting against the one-sided perspectives and authoritarian structures of the 1950s. During the 1970s, the foundations of the post-war institutions were shaken by the oil crisis and economic slowdown. The dollar’s role as a gold-backed global standard was questioned, the last colonies gained independence, and the global economic order came under scrutiny. At the same time, issues of environmental sustainability and long-term survival gained increasing importance.
Toward the end of the 1970s, a new era began to take shape. The focus shifted to deregulation of financial markets and a growing global trade. Stock markets flourished, and a new generation of finance professionals entered the scene. In Sweden, stock investment became a popular movement, while the liberation waves of the 60s and 70s continued to spread to new parts of society. The previous uncertainty about which economic system could best create prosperity for the general population was now dispelled—especially as an economically weakened Soviet Union collapsed at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s. The liberal market economies had ultimately prevailed. With increasing freedom, the previously cohesive societal model began to dissolve, and the belief in a single truth was replaced by the realization that truth is multifaceted.
Source Kairos Future. First published in a report to the knowledge network, Kairos Agora 2002.
But nothing lasts forever. In the 2000s, a new global transformation began to take shape, even if it was initially difficult to detect. Subsequent events such as the bursting of the dot-com bubble, the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Iraq War, financial crises, a more aggressive Russian foreign policy, the Arab Spring turning into conflict and civil war, and increasing global terrorism—especially in the Middle East and parts of Africa—shook the world. At the same time, China under Xi Jinping strengthened its position and began to act with increasing assertiveness. Life went on in parallel, as digital technology advanced rapidly—bringing both positive and negative consequences. Societies became more polarized, value conflicts deepened, and calls for strong leaders grew louder, in step with declining democracies and increasing global fragmentation. The U.S. election and Trump’s presidency accelerated this division, and uncertainty about what might happen from one day to the next has intensified.
We now stand on the threshold of a new era—marked by upheavals, shifts in perspective, and new approaches. But the exact outcome of the challenges and opportunities of this time is still unwritten.
When so much is uncertain, the best approach is to start looking at what will not change—an analysis we will highlight in the next article, before exploring the shifts we are likely to encounter over the next five years.
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