ABSTRACT
Editors’ note In this chapter, in one sense John Gordon is optimistic: he believes that there is an increasing realisation by both government and industry that there has to be some kind of longer-term planning. On the other hand he is pessimistic, believing that in the democracies, the political necessity of short-term thinking dominates most other requirements. This is not the same for all cultures and all democracies, some being better able than others to think long term-but in Britain the political system is seen as being particularly unhelpful, given the adversarial nature of the two-party system. The non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are not much help in this situation either: their usual tactics involve very current issues and very current demands-and had they been able to think more long term and strategically, they could have had a much greater impact. But they too are caught by an uncertain future, which requires them to act while they can.
