Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential
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The ''Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential'' is published by the
Union of International Associations The Union of International Associations (UIA) is a non-profit non-governmental research institute and documentation center based in Brussels, Belgium, and operating under United Nations mandate. It was founded in 1907 under the name Central Office ...
(UIA). It is available online since 2000, and was previously available as a CD-ROM and as a three-volume book. The ''Encyclopedia'' was started under the direction of Anthony Judge in 1972 and now comprises more than 100,000 entries and 700,000 links, as well as hundreds of pages of introductory notes and commentaries. The Encyclopedia collects information on problems,
strategies Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "art of troop leader; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the "art ...
,
values In ethics and social sciences, value denotes the degree of importance of something or action, with the aim of determining which actions are best to do or what way is best to live (normative ethics in ethics), or to describe the significance of dif ...
, concepts of
human development Human development may refer to: * Development of the human body * Developmental psychology * Human development (economics) * Human Development Index, an index used to rank countries by level of human development * Human evolution, the prehistoric ...
, and various intellectual resources.


Databases

The ''Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential'' is made up from data gathered from many sources. Those data are grouped into various
database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases sp ...
s which constitute the backbone of the ''Encyclopedia''. The databases are searchable; query results may be seen as lists or as various
visualization Visualization or visualisation may refer to: *Visualization (graphics), the physical or imagining creation of images, diagrams, or animations to communicate a message * Data visualization, the graphic representation of data * Information visualiz ...
s. They include: * ''World Problems – Issues'' is a database with almost 57 thousand entries.
• Basic universal problems include danger, lack of information, social injustice, war, environmental degradation.
• Cross-sectoral problems include animal suffering, irresponsible nationalism,
soil degradation Soil retrogression and degradation are two regressive evolution processes associated with the loss of equilibrium of a stable soil. Retrogression is primarily due to soil erosion and corresponds to a phenomenon where succession reverts the land t ...
.
• Detailed problems include detention of mothers, epidemics, white-collar crime.
• Emanations of other problems include terrorism targeted against tourists, injustice of mass trials, threatened species of Caudata.
• Fuzzy exceptional problems include blaming victims, pacifism, unconstrained free trade.
• Very specific problems include blue baby, tomato mottle virus, costly uniforms.
• Problems under consideration include feminist backlash, mudslide.
• Suspect problems include threatened species of Zapus hudsonius preblei, uncommitted volunteer workers.
* ''Global
Strategies Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "art of troop leader; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the "art ...
– Solutions'' is a database with over 32 thousand entries.
• Abstract fundamental strategies include compromising, transcending, providing.
• Basic universal strategies include eliminating discrimination, combating desertification, reducing unemployment.
• Cross-sectoral strategies include orienting economic policy toward social need, managing crises.
• Detailed strategies include establishing national government NGO departments, using psychological warfare.
• Emanations of other strategies include lifting restrictions on human rights advocacy, reviewing provisions of the UN Charter.
• Exceptional strategies include begging, rechanneling expenditures on defence, advocating nihilism.
• Very specific strategies include working with young people, undertaking public works.
• Unconfirmed strategies include abolishing zoos, ventilating air through buildings.
• Provisional strategies include developing chest radiology, preserving internal political borders.
• Strategy polarities include deepening-shallowing, intuiting-reasoning, supporting-opposing.
• Strategy roles include advisor, traitor, confessor.
• Strategy types or complexes include communication, judgement, time.
* ''Human
Values In ethics and social sciences, value denotes the degree of importance of something or action, with the aim of determining which actions are best to do or what way is best to live (normative ethics in ethics), or to describe the significance of dif ...
'' is a database with over 3,200 entries.
• Constructive values include peace, harmony, beauty.
• Destructive values include conflict, depravity, ugliness.
• Value polarities include agreement-disagreement, freedom-restraint, pleasure-displeasure.
• Value clusters include feeling complex, interaction complex, communication complex.
* ''
Human Development Human development may refer to: * Development of the human body * Developmental psychology * Human development (economics) * Human Development Index, an index used to rank countries by level of human development * Human evolution, the prehistoric ...
'' is a database with over 4,800 entries.
• Concepts of human development include vocational training, benevolence, emancipation of the self.
• Modes of awareness include compassion, sense of shame, conviction, sense of humor.
* ''
Pattern A pattern is a regularity in the world, in human-made design, or in abstract ideas. As such, the elements of a pattern repeat in a predictable manner. A geometric pattern is a kind of pattern formed of geometric shapes and typically repeated l ...
s and
Metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wit ...
s'' is a database with almost 1,300 entries.
• Communication: Forms of presentation include animation, statistical indicators, prophecy.
• Metaphors include ball games, sexual intercourse, personification, stick and carrot processes.
• Patterns (Christopher Alexander) include encirclement, internal connectedness between domains, partially isolated contexts.
• Symbols include birds, food-related objects, sacred calendar.
• Transformative conferencing includes aggressive participant type, lecture, team roles.
• Transformative metaphors (I Ching) include creativity, receptivity, inexperience.
* '' Integrative Concepts'' is a database with over 630 entries. Entries include design, meta-language, science policy. * ''Network Visualizations'' is a database featuring a collection of documents added from 2001 to the present. * ''
Bibliography Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliography ...
(issues)'' is a database with 16,000+ entries and 24,000+ links.


Entries and links

The ''Encyclopedia'' online databases consist of over 100,000 entries (also called profiles) and 700,000 links. An entry, for instanc
War
may include the following elements:
1) name, alternative names, nature or definition, background or context, incidence (for problems) or implementation (for strategies), claim of importance, counter-claim, quotations or aphorisms (for values);
2) links to the same database entries that are more general (broader), more specific (narrower), related (in some as yet unspecified manner), preceding (aggravating or reducing problems, constraining or facilitating strategies, prior modes of awareness), following (aggravated or reduced problems, constrained or facilitated strategies, subsequent modes of awareness);
3) cross-reference links, mainly between entries in the ''Problems'', ''Strategies'', ''Values'', and ''Development'' databases;
4) links to entries in other UIA databases, mainly the ''International Organizations'' database;
5) reference links to entries in the ''Bibliography (issues)'' database;
6) links to relevant websites.


Notes and commentaries

The ''Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential'' contains nearly 500 pages of introductory notes and commentaries. Some of them just provide readers with usual information about the work content and its organization. Most of them represent extensive reports on the exploratory work done by the editors in eight projects (also called research areas, or sections). Here are those projects, with illustrative examples of key ideas figuring in the notes and commentaries.


Encyclopedia of world problems and human potential project

A first objective of the editors in that projectEncyclopedia of world problems and human potential project
Union of International Associations. Retrieved on 23 November 2011.
is to collect and present information on the following topics: the problems with which humanity perceives itself to be faced; the organizational, human, and intellectual resources it believes it has at its disposal; the values by which it is believed any change should be guided; the concepts of human development considered to be either the means or the end of any such social transformation. A second objective is to clarify the conceptual challenge of interrelating such plentiful and disparate or even contradictory information. A third objective is to enable alternation between viewpoints from different cultures, ideologies, beliefs and even "facts", as a way for individuals and societies to become empowered with an appropriate response to the problematic conditions of the moment. It is the disagreement amongst the advocates of different approaches to problems or solutions which hinders the formation of any consensual strategy and the mobilization of adequate resources. That is why the ''Encyclopedia'' uses an approach that is as general and minimally structured as is feasible without losing coherence and utility. The intent is first to contribute to clarify the nature, extent, and interrelationships of problems and solutions. Even the distinction between problems and solutions is not always clear. For instance, housing an increasing number of people is a solution that may aggravate the problem of urban overcrowding, and the death of individuals is a problem that contributes to the solution of reducing ecological impact of overpopulation. The ''Encyclopedia'' databases are much about how problems, strategies, values, development concepts, and organizations are linked together. As a result, the possibility of focusing on feedback, feedback loops has proven to be an important feature of the ''Encyclopedia'', and a program has been carried out to identify "''vicious problem loops''". A vicious problem loop is a chain of problems, each aggravating the next, and with the last looping back to aggravate the first in the chain. Here is an example: Man-made disasters, Vulnerability of ecosystem niches, Natural environment degradation, Shortage of natural resources, Unbridled competition for scarce resources, Man-made disasters. Solutions that focus on only one problem in a chain may fail or even be harmful, because the cycle has the capacity to regenerate itself, and also because several cycles may interlock, forming tangled skeins of interlinked global problems. The loop detection program detected more than 50,000 loops (of up to 9 elements) in more than 12,000 problem profiles. It is thought that a similar work could be done about mutually facilitating or constraining strategy loops, so as to constitute a dynamic response to aggravating or reducing loops of problems through a circle of matching strategies.


World problems and global issues

That project endeavors to present all the phenomena in society that are perceived negatively by groups transcending national frontiers. Those phenomena constitute a challenge to creative remedial action. Groups are strongly motivated by the problems that infringe their values and arouse their indignation. As such, problems are a major stimulus driving the development of society. Although there is agreement that problems are numerous and that many are really serious, little effort has been made to determine how many problems there are. Likewise, while it is becoming increasingly evident that problems interact with one another, and constitute complex networks or systems, little effort has been made to map that
complexity Complexity characterises the behaviour of a system or model whose components interaction, interact in multiple ways and follow local rules, leading to nonlinearity, randomness, collective dynamics, hierarchy, and emergence. The term is generall ...
. The perceptions documented in that project raise useful questions concerning the nature and existence of problems, especially when other groups consider that one perception or another is irrelevant, misleading or misinformed. An aim of that research area, then, is to assemble information whose significance is collectively repressed, displaced onto some less threatening problems, or projected in the form of blame onto some other social group.Encyclopedia of world problems and human potential project – Content: sections and sub-sections
Union of International Associations. Retrieved on 23 November 2011.
Views concerning problems are extremely varied. Several pages in the notes and commentaries deal with that variety. Problems are agenda items for assemblies or conferences; action targets for organizations; issues for political parties or governments; events or topics for the media; markets for businesses; sins for religions; puzzles for sciences. Problems can be viewed as synonymous with chaos and disorder, or as elements in an ordered array; as static or dynamic entities; as discrete or continuous phenomena; as objective things or subjective experiences; as directly experienceable phenomena or as indirect implications of seemingly innocent phenomena; as inherently comprehensible or incomprehensible entities; as the results of due processes or as spontaneous phenomena. For many people in the West problems may be considered as artifacts of concerned minds, about which reason, principles, or history are relevant, while in the East to conceive of life as presenting problems to be solved may be seen as a misconception of life. Other pages of notes and commentaries deal extensively with the variety of points of view under headings such as ''Approaches to problems'', ''Beyond the problem-lobby mindset'', or ''Problem perception and levels of awareness''.


Global strategies and solutions

That project aims at identifying the complete range of
strategies Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "art of troop leader; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the "art ...
perceived by constituencies acting at the international level. The conventional way of addressing any problem situation is to elaborate a strategy, but given the number, variety and interrelationships of the problems, it is uncertain whether any conventional strategy could be adequate. In general, many groups have "answers" to the current crisis. The proponents of each such answer naturally attach special importance to their own as being of crucial relevance at this time, or even as being the only appropriate basis for a viable world society in the future. That focus on "answer production", a vital moving force in society, obscures the manner in which such answers, in the absence of integration between them, undermine each other's significance. It appears to the editors that the elements of the strategic challenge at this time include: *a vast and changing network of perceived problems, on which no single body has (or possibly could have) adequate control; *a vast and changing network of conceptual tools and knowledge resources, which is not (and possibly could not be) controlled by any single body; *a vast and changing
network Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...
of agencies, organizations, groups and active individuals spanning every conceivable human interest and extending from the community level to the international level, and on which no single body has (or possibly could or should have) adequate control. The strategic problem therefore is how to ensure that the appropriate organizational resources emerge, and are supported with appropriate conceptual tools, in response to emerging problem complexes. But it would seem that this must be achieved without organizing such response – for to the extent that any part of the network is organized, other parts will develop (and probably should develop) which favor alternative approaches. The challenge is therefore to clarify the conditions of a network strategy, i.e. an approach which facilitates or catalyses (rather than organizes) the development of organizational networks in response to problem networks, in the light of values perceived in various parts of the social system. Many pages of notes and commentaries describe in details various approaches to global strategies, and their limits. Such are ''Strategic ecosystem: beyond "The Plan"'', ''Governance'' (a series of pages on reports from the
Club of Rome The Club of Rome is a nonprofit, informal organization of intellectuals and business leaders whose goal is a critical discussion of pressing global issues. The Club of Rome was founded in 1968 at Accademia dei Lincei in Rome, Italy. It consists ...
, the
Commission on Global Governance The Commission on Global Governance was an organization co-chaired by Swedish Prime Minister Ingvar Carlsson, and former Commonwealth Secretary-General Shridath Ramphal, that produced a controversial report, ''Our Global Neighborhood'', in 1995. Th ...
, and four others groups), ''Strategic denial: action inhibition'', ''Post-crisis opportunities: range of strategies'', and ''Post-crisis opportunities: strategies in chaos''. A long series of pages explores how to "move beyond the unimodal answer and recognize that because each form of action has both strengths and weaknesses, the key to a more effectively multimodal answer lies in finding how to interrelate the various unimodal answers so that they correct for each others weaknesses and counteract each others excesses". But, it must also be asked, is integrated action of any type feasible at this time? The exploration begins with ''Strategic appropriateness: questionable answers'', and finishes with ''Action implications: consensus, uncertainty and action formulation''. Conditions for progress in strategy-making are more explicitly brought up in pages such as ''Strategic ecosystem: integrating constraint and opposition'', and ''Post-crisis opportunities: in quest of radical coherence''.


Human values and wisdom

That project aims at registering a complete range of
values In ethics and social sciences, value denotes the degree of importance of something or action, with the aim of determining which actions are best to do or what way is best to live (normative ethics in ethics), or to describe the significance of dif ...
with which people identify, to which they are attracted or which they reject as abhorrent. The notion of
wisdom Wisdom, sapience, or sagacity is the ability to contemplate and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense and insight. Wisdom is associated with attributes such as unbiased judgment, compassion, experiential self-knowledge, ...
is explored as a way, an art, of dealing with value dilemmas. For instance, ''Complexity: understanding value systems'' is a text that looks at values through a positive interpretation, a negative interpretation, a paradoxical negative interpretation of the positive, and a paradoxical positive interpretation of the negative. Another text, ''Insights: wisdom and requisite variety'', gives a list of several sources of wisdom which, in interrelation, may be required in a value system to ensure the long-term viability of a complex society.


Human potential and development

The purpose of that project is to provide profiles of
human development Human development may refer to: * Development of the human body * Developmental psychology * Human development (economics) * Human Development Index, an index used to rank countries by level of human development * Human evolution, the prehistoric ...
approaches and modes of
awareness Awareness is the state of being conscious of something. More specifically, it is the ability to directly know and perceive, to feel, or to be cognizant of events. Another definition describes it as a state wherein a subject is aware of some inform ...
, and their relationships, as perceived by different beliefs systems, disciplines, religions, and cultures. Much of the material in this section is about the limitations of language in expressing levels of significance beyond that which can be effectively captured by words, so that, seemingly, what we need to understand may only be expressible in a "language" that we do not know! That paradox is explored in a page entitled ''Language and the reconstruction of reality''. Other challenges relative to human potential and development are explored in pages such as ''Phases of human development through challenging problems'', or ''Barriers to transcendent insight and social transformation''.


Patterns and metaphors

The purpose of that project is to review the range of communication possibilities of
metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wit ...
,
pattern A pattern is a regularity in the world, in human-made design, or in abstract ideas. As such, the elements of a pattern repeat in a predictable manner. A geometric pattern is a kind of pattern formed of geometric shapes and typically repeated l ...
and
symbol A symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different conc ...
. New conceptual tools are required to configure very large quantities of information into patterns that are both memorable and meaningful, and metaphor is often the only means to deal comprehensibly with complexity. Moreover, exploring "new ways of thinking" in the light of enhanced
mental imagery A mental image is an experience that, on most occasions, significantly resembles the experience of 'perceiving' some object, event, or scene, but occurs when the relevant object, event, or scene is not actually present to the senses. There are ...
(or
mental model A mental model is an explanation of someone's thought process about how something works in the real world. It is a representation of the surrounding world, the relationships between its various parts and a person's intuitive perception about thei ...
) appears indispensable inasmuch as furthering "mobilization of public opinion" and the "political will to change" is dependent upon insights that are too complex to be easily communicable. For instance, limitations of dualistic thinking are well-known and
holistic Holism () is the idea that various systems (e.g. physical, biological, social) should be viewed as wholes, not merely as a collection of parts. The term "holism" was coined by Jan Smuts in his 1926 book ''Holism and Evolution''."holism, n." OED Onl ...
approaches may represent more desirable alternatives, but how is it possible to implement such alternatives? The page ''Challenge: transcending the "switch" metaphor'' deals with that question.


Integrative knowledge and transdisciplinarity

The purpose of that project is to assemble descriptions of the range of conceptual approaches which are considered integrative and which are held by some international constituencies to provide a key for strategic response to the global problematique. Buzzwords like "global", "networking" and "systematic" are often used as magical "words-of-power". Nevertheless, in a society characterized by specialization, fragmentation, disparateness, or opposition, integrative approaches until now have proved inadequate or too difficult to implement. In order to go beyond that difficulty, it seems necessary to creatively introduce novelties, such as a science or art of disagreement that could clarify how to ''disagree intelligently'' rather than do so in a mindless manner requiring some form of violent or repressive reaction to eliminate the disagreement as soon as possible. There is a wide variety of initiatives pertaining to integrative knowledge and
transdisciplinarity Transdisciplinarity connotes a research strategy that crosses many disciplinary boundaries to create a holistic approach. It applies to research efforts focused on problems that cross the boundaries of two or more disciplines, such as research o ...
, and a page like ''Significance: previous, parallel or related initiatives'' presents several of them. With regard to interdisciplinary relationships between organizations, problems, strategies, values and human development, there is the ''Integrative Matrix of Human Preoccupations'' which has been developed by the editors and which allows to deal with all those elements in an exploratory fashion.


Transformative approaches to social organization

The purpose of that project is to provide a context for the presentation of new approaches to the challenges highlighted in the other projects. The emphasis is on configuring information in new ways, through a variety of accessible techniques, so as to allow easier navigation through
complexity Complexity characterises the behaviour of a system or model whose components interaction, interact in multiple ways and follow local rules, leading to nonlinearity, randomness, collective dynamics, hierarchy, and emergence. The term is generall ...
, and so as to evoke imaginative insights in response to such complexity. The ''Overview'' page presents about forty of those approaches or techniques, including
interactive Across the many fields concerned with interactivity, including information science, computer science, human-computer interaction, communication, and industrial design, there is little agreement over the meaning of the term "interactivity", but mo ...
database use,
q-analysis Q-analysis is a mathematical framework to describe and analyze set systems, or equivalently simplicial complexes. This idea was first introduced by Ronald Atkin in the early 1970s. Atkin was a British mathematician teaching at the University of Esse ...
,
information visualization Information is an abstract concept that refers to that which has the power to inform. At the most fundamental level information pertains to the interpretation of that which may be sensed. Any natural process that is not completely random, ...
, confidence artistry,
tensegrity Tensegrity, tensional integrity or floating compression is a structural principle based on a system of isolated components under compression inside a network of continuous tension, and arranged in such a way that the compressed members (usually ...
organization,
I Ching The ''I Ching'' or ''Yi Jing'' (, ), usually translated ''Book of Changes'' or ''Classic of Changes'', is an ancient Chinese divination text that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics. Originally a divination manual in the Western Zho ...
, transformative conferencing, or marriage between poetry and policy-making.


Contributors

The project was originally conceived in 1972 by James Wellesley-Wesley, who provided financial support through the foundation Mankind 2000, and Anthony Judge, by whom the work was orchestrated.Encyclopedia Illusions – Rationale for an Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential
Laetusinpraesens.org. Retrieved on 23 November 2011.
Work on the first edition started with funds from Mankind 2000, matching those of the UIA. The publisher Klaus Saur, of Munich, provided funds, in conjunction with those from the UIA, for work on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th editions. Seed funding for the third volume of the 4th edition was also provided on behalf of Mankind 2000. In the nineties, seed funding was provided, again on behalf of Mankind 2000, for computer equipment which subsequently allowed the UIA to develop a large website and make progressively available for free the ''Encyclopedia'' databases as from the 1994–1995 edition. In turn, this proven
knowledge management Knowledge management (KM) is the collection of methods relating to creating, sharing, using and managing the knowledge and information of an organization. It refers to a multidisciplinary approach to achieve organisational objectives by making ...
capacity enabled the UIA, on the initiative of Nadia McLaren, a consultant ecologist who has been a primary editor for the ''Encyclopedia'', to successfully instigate two multi-partner projects funded by the European Union, with matching funds from the UIA. The work done through those two projects, ''Ecolynx: Information Context for Biodiversity Conservation'' (mainly) and ''Interactive Health Ecology Access Links'', eventually resulted in what amounted to a fifth, web-based, edition of the ''Encyclopedia'' in 2000.Initiatives within the framework of the Union of International Associations
Un-intelligible.org (22 February 1999). Retrieved on 23 November 2011.
In their own ways, two other persons in particular effectively supported the project over the years:
Robert Jungk Robert Jungk (; born ''Robert Baum'', also known as ''Robert Baum-Jungk''; 11 May 1913 – 14 July 1994) was an Austrian writer, journalist, historian and peace campaigner who wrote mostly on issues relating to nuclear weapons. Life Jungk was bor ...
of Mankind 2000, and Christian de Laet of the UIA. The ''Encyclopedia'' was the fruit of a continuing processing of documents gathered from many of the thousands of the
international organization An international organization or international organisation (see spelling differences), also known as an intergovernmental organization or an international institution, is a stable set of norms and rules meant to govern the behavior of states an ...
s profiled in the ''
Yearbook of International Organizations The Yearbook of International Organizations is a reference work on non-profit international organizations, published by the Union of International Associations. It was first published in 1908 under the title ''Annuaire de la vie internationale'', a ...
''. Many such bodies regularly produce a wide range of material on the areas of their concern, many regularly send documents to the UIA, and many, when requested more specifically, supplied documents for the ''Encyclopedia''. The following organizations provided documents in the greatest quantity: FAO, ILO, UNICEF, UNESCO, UNCTD, WHO, Commonwealth Secretariat, Council of Europe, OECD, World Bank group. Furthermore, the United Nations Library in Geneva facilitated access to other material over two decades.Encyclopedia of world problem and human potential project – Overview: background and acknowledgements
Union of International Associations. Retrieved on 23 November 2011.
The Institute of Cultural Affairs International was contractually associated at one point to the edition and other aspects of the ''Encyclopedia'' project. The ''Goals, Processes and Indicators of Development'' project (led by
Johan Galtung Johan Vincent Galtung (born 24 October 1930) is a Norwegian sociologist who is the principal founder of the discipline of peace and conflict studies. He was the main founder of the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) in 1959 and served as its ...
) of the United Nations University, in which Anthony Judge participated on behalf of the UIA between 1978 and 1982, was an experience of learning and research that had a significant impact on the editorial content of the ''Encyclopedia''.Global strategies project – Introduction: background and acknowledgements
Union of International Associations. Retrieved on 23 November 2011.
Another noticeable influence came from
futures studies Futures studies, futures research, futurism or futurology is the systematic, interdisciplinary and holistic study of social and technological advancement, and other environmental trends, often for the purpose of exploring how people will li ...
, with which Judge has long been associated. He reports in ''Encyclopedia Illusions'' how the narrow focus of the
Club of Rome The Club of Rome is a nonprofit, informal organization of intellectuals and business leaders whose goal is a critical discussion of pressing global issues. The Club of Rome was founded in 1968 at Accademia dei Lincei in Rome, Italy. It consists ...
on a few socio-economic aspects of futures research prompted the much vaster exploration concerning world problems and human potential. Anthony Judge was the architect and managing editor of the ''Encyclopedia''. He was also the main author of the notes and commentaries. The principal editors over the years have been, for different editions, Jon Jenkins and Maureen Jenkins (who had also worked at the Institute of Cultural Affairs), Owen Victor, Jacqueline Nebel, Nadia McLaren, and Tomáš Fülöpp. There were also enthusiastic editorial contributions from volunteers. All people related to the UIA who worked directly on one or more of the five ''Encyclopedia'' editions figure on a list that can be found online under the heading ''Associates of the Union of Intelligible Associations''. This is because in 2005, following disagreement over the partnership contract, Anthony Judge, as Executive Secretary of Mankind 2000, reframed the ''Encyclopedia'' as having been a strategic initiative of the Union of Intelligible Associations. Tomáš Fülöpp continued maintaining and improving ''Encyclopedia'' databases at the UIA until January 2012. In the years after, on a contractual basis, he has been architecting a number of data structure, editing system, API, and visualization enhancements. Tomáš Fülöpp also continues to manage and lead the ''Encyclopedia'' project in close collaboration with the UIA and a group of senior editors such as Nadia McLaren and Kimberly Trathen.


Editions

* The 1st edition, initiated in 1972 and published in 1976, has one volume entitled ''Yearbook of World Problems and Human Potential'', comprising thirteen sections, several of which have not appeared in subsequent editions. * The 2nd edition, initiated in 1983 and published in 1986, has the new definitive title ''Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential''. It is still a single volume (published, this time only, as volume 4 of the ''
Yearbook of International Organizations The Yearbook of International Organizations is a reference work on non-profit international organizations, published by the Union of International Associations. It was first published in 1908 under the title ''Annuaire de la vie internationale'', a ...
''), but it has a different set of sections, and because it is printed on thin paper with a special world award-winning typesetting, the book is equivalent to several normal volumes. * The 3rd edition, initiated in 1988 and published in 1991, has two volumes: ''World Problems'' (vol. 1), and ''Human Potential'' (vol. 2). * The 4th edition, initiated in 1992 and published in 1994–1995, has three volumes: ''World Problems'' (vol. 1), ''Human Potential – Transformation and Values'' (vol.2), ''Actions – Strategies – Solutions'' (vol. 3). A CD-ROM version, ''Encyclopedia Plus'', is also published. * The online edition, initiated in 1997 and completed in 2000, is freely available. It may be noted that a gigantic "Questions database" was added in 2006, but removed shortly after to reduce server burden. For the future, it can be seen on the UIA website that a participative and interactive process is in place, which might allow eventually, in accordance with the often expressed intentions of the editors, to develop the online ''Encyclopedia'' in a continuous manner. :Here is a table showing the number of entries for certain topics in the various editions.UIA Online Databases
Union of International Associations. Retrieved on 23 November 2011.


Reviews

There have been several reviews of the encyclopedia. One of the harshest criticisms came from the American Library Association in 1987: "The board considers the ''Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential'' a problematic monument to idiosyncrasy, confusion, and obfuscation that certainly is not worth purchasing at any price." Similarly,
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
was extremely critical in a review article published in 1992, to which Anthony Judge recently responded via Transcend Media Service on the occasion of the publication in
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
of a page-one sympathetic review of the ''Encyclopedia'' initiative, in December 2012. The work itself is keen on presenting, in various places, disclaimers, reservations or warning texts that anticipate criticisms and explain the strengths and weaknesses of its approaches, including the failure to advocate a position, or the sometimes excessive complexity in its methods or language. Most reviews are laudatory.
Richard Slaughter Richard Slaughter is a scholar and writer in the field of futures studies, applied foresight and social innovation. He is the co-director of Foresight International, and has guest edited the journals ''Futures'' and '' foresight''. His work ha ...
emphasized that the significance of the work is not its size or the scope of its references, impressive though these are. It is rather in the nature of what has been attempted. The accompanying notes and commentaries, he said, are good enough to be published separately because they contain highly cogent observations on the "global problematique", commentaries on the work of numerous great thinkers from a wide variety of fields, and an impressive array of insights about the epistemology, symbolism, metaphysics, metaphors and linguistic representations of the subject. As far as practice is concerned, the highest commendation perhaps is to be found in the words of Elise Boulding: "Any one of us (...) can actively become a part in the world problem solving process by using this encyclopedia."Encyclopedia review
Union of International Associations. Retrieved on 23 November 2011.


See also

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Decision making In psychology, decision-making (also spelled decision making and decisionmaking) is regarded as the cognitive process resulting in the selection of a belief or a course of action among several possible alternative options. It could be either rati ...
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Environmental issue Environmental issues are effects of human activity on the biophysical environment, most often of which are harmful effects that cause environmental degradation. Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment on th ...
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Global governance Global governance refers to institutions that coordinate the behavior of transnational actors, facilitate cooperation, resolve disputes, and alleviate collective action problems. Global governance broadly entails making, monitoring, and enfor ...
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Policy Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an organ ...
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Political issue Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...
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Problem solving Problem solving is the process of achieving a goal by overcoming obstacles, a frequent part of most activities. Problems in need of solutions range from simple personal tasks (e.g. how to turn on an appliance) to complex issues in business an ...
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Public policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs. Public p ...
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Social issue A social issue is a problem that affects many people within a society. It is a group of common problems in present-day society and ones that many people strive to solve. It is often the consequence of factors extending beyond an individual's cont ...
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Wicked problem In planning and policy, a wicked problem is a problem that is difficult or impossible to solve because of incomplete, contradictory, and changing requirements that are often difficult to recognize. It refers to an idea or problem that cannot be fix ...


References


External links


Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential (main database)

Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential (editing platform)

Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential (project information)

Ecolynx A short movie exemplifying the use of the ''Encyclopedia''

''Encyclopedia of World Problems Has a Big One of Its Own''
a Wall Street Journal article, 11 December 2012. {{Authority control
Union of International Associations
Online encyclopedias Online databases Public policy Social issues Economic problems Problem solving Global issues Human development