ABSTRACT
In this concluding chapter we will first summarize the main dimensions and facets of the phenomena dealt with in this book, short-termism as a societal state and the various responses to it. We will then relate the individual chapters to this general outline, departing from the three main thematic sections of the book: the nature of temporary measures, their effects and outcomes and intermediaries, respectively. However, we believe that the main contribution of this book is related to the portraying of short-termist states and responses in various arenas and along various dimensions of the phenomenon as such, rather than a progress towards a cause-and-effect analysis. The phenomenon is too multifarious to be put into an operational or rationalistic model. There is also a quest for a more systematic comparative approach, taking its point of departure in the differences between political systems and traditions discussed in the second section of this chapter.
