The world can be characterized by dynamics of acceleration. The African population will double during the next three decades; global urban infrastructures will double by 2050; to stay below the 2 °C guardrail and to avoid dangerous climate change, emissions need to peak by 2020 and be reduced to zero by 2050; The decisions of states, firms and political actors during the next one or two decades will create very long-term path dependencies in the emerging global society. Acceleration, path dependencies and very long-term impacts of current decisions need to be taken into account in Global Cooperation Research.

The Käte Hamburger Kolleg / Centre for Global Cooperation Research therefore brought together scenario experts, integrated assessment scholars and science fiction authors with global cooperation researchers. All of them agreed that shaping the future, organizing transformation processes towards sustainability and investing in global cooperation to make globalization work for all means building on new narratives about possible futures. Narratives are about imagination, creativity, innovation, diversity. Without transformative narratives, we cannot go beyond incremental changes. This Global Dialogues publication builds important bridges between scholars from very different disciplines which can help us to merge the knowledge of future scenario thinkers and pioneers of global cooperation research.

(from the Preface)