Paul Arbair is the pen name of a business and policy consultant with almost 20 years experience in management and policy consulting, mostly with the EU institutions.
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The Tainterian dynamic and the advent of the ‘Great Simplification’ – Part Two
Investigating how and why complex societies or civilizations have risen and fallen in human history, anthropologist and historian Joseph Tainter uncovered a dynamic that can help us make sense of our present situation and future prospects.
August 19, 2026
The Tainterian dynamic and the advent of the ‘Great Simplification’ – Part One
Signs abound that global techno-industrial society is cracking at the seams under the accumulated weight of its own complexity, and that it might now be on the cusp of entering a period of ‘Great Simplification’.
August 18, 2026
Polycrisis? What Polycrisis?
Human societies the world over are confronted with a growing number and range of difficult and compounding problems and crises, which they are increasingly struggling to address and failing to solve, and which are slowly but surely eroding their ability to function effectively and undermining their capacity to coexist peacefully.
April 25, 2023
The Johnson “Coup”, the Brexit Mess, and the Global Crisis of Democracy
During the 2016 referendum campaign, #Brexiteers pretended that #Brexit was about ‘restoring the full sovereignty of Parliament’, which had allegedly been usurped by unelected bureaucrats in Brussels. Now, they’re happy to see their unelected PM suspend this same Parliament.
September 5, 2019
Some Thoughts on Extinction Rebellion – and the Future of the Climate Movement
The rise of ‘Extinction Rebellion’ signals that climate activism is moving up a gear. Further radicalisation is probably inevitable.
August 29, 2019
A Modest Suggestion for the World’s Climate Strikers
Here is how: in addition to your “climate strike”, or as a substitute to it if or when you get frustrated of being denied the kind of change you want, embark with all the strength and enthusiasm of your youth on an “energy diet”. A big, fat, relentless and endless energy diet. Not only on Fridays, but every single day of the week, 365 days per year, for the rest of your life.
March 21, 2019
