Political strategies for tackling climate change and other “long problems” that span generations
Climate change and its consequences unfold over many generations. Past emissions affect our climate today, just as our actions shape the climate of tomorrow, while the effects of global warming will last thousands of years. Yet the priorities of the present dominate our climate policy and the politics surrounding it. Even the social science that attempts to frame the problem does not theorize time effectively. In this pathbreaking book, Thomas Hale examines the politics of climate change and other “long problems.” He shows why we find it hard to act before a problem’s effects are felt, why our future interests carry little weight in current debates, and why our institutions struggle to balance durability and adaptability. With long-term goals in mind, he outlines strategies for tilting the politics and policies of climate change toward better outcomes.
Globalization “widened” political problems across national boundaries and changed our understanding of politics and governance. Hale argues that we must make a similar shift to understand the “lengthening” of problems across time. He describes tools and strategies that can, under certain conditions, allow policymakers to anticipate future needs and risks, make interventions that get ahead of problems, shift time horizons, adapt to changing circumstances, and set forward-looking goals that endure. As the climate changes, politics must, too. Efforts to solve long-term problems—not only climate change but other issues as well, including technology governance and demographic shifts—can also be a catalyst for a broader institutional transformation oriented toward the long term. With Long Problems, Hale offers an essential guide to governing across time.
"This book argues that, just as the "widening" of political problems across national boundaries due to globalization has led to profound shifts in how we understand, study, and approach governance across space, so too does their "lengthening" across time horizons require a fundamental shift in thinking and policy. Social scientists and policy-makers have yet to really appreciate the role that time can play, hampering our ability to find effective solutions. In this book, Thomas Hale explores the implications of "long problems"- those, like climate change, whose proximate causes and effects unfold over relatively long time periods -for politics and governance. Hale starts by defining long problems and then considers the three features that make these issues so challenging: institutional lag, the fact that future generations cannot advocate for their interests in the present, and the difficulty of acting early enough to make a difference. Tackling long problems requires solutions that address these challenges head on, and Hale presents interventions to address each, not just in the abstract but with copious examples of policies that have worked or have failed. The author also considers, more largely, how social science can best study long problems, outlining a research agenda that aims to shift the object of study from the past to the future. In sum, Hale presents a framework and vision for how society can best govern long problems and address complex and profound challenges like climate change"--
"[This book] offers a thoughtful list of reforms that deserve a wider hearing."
---Pilita Clark, Financial Times 
