Global Social problems

Addressing Global Challenges: A Baha'i Approach

With the advancement of science and technology over the last 175 years, while the quality of life has improved for some people, new problems and difficulties have emerged, some of which threaten the survival of human beings on this planet. These problems have their roots in human society and result from the interactions between human beings. Hence, they are known as social problems and they have become the greatest barriers to the establishment of peace and harmony in the world.

Social Problems

Bahá'u'lláh states,

“Every age hath its own problem, and every soul its particular aspiration.”

This quotation clearly reflects the complexity and ever changing condition of human society. The aspirations and desires of individuals living in a society affect their relationships and patterns of behaviour. At the same time, the collective development and evolution of society itself creates new problems. These two processes together create social problems that vary with time and place. Accordingly, the solutions required to solve social problems also vary with time and place as Bahá'u'lláh has explained in the following quotation:

“The remedy the world needeth in its present-day afflictions can never be the same as that which a subsequent age may require.”

In this age, the advancement of science and technology, the unequal distribution of wealth, and significant and uneven growth of human populations in different parts of the world have had a tremendous impact on human society as a whole, and have created unprecedented social problems.

A study of these problems and their sources indicate that they are highly interrelated. It is rather difficult to consider them as independent problems - that is in isolation from each other. In fact, these problems affect every individual and all aspects of our lives and are a threat to human survival. Similarly, these problems cannot be tackled by one country in isolation from others.

In this regard, the Bahá’í International Community, in an article called Social Progress[1] describes:

“Humankind is one interdependent whole. Any approach to social problems must recognize the global nature of such problems. Examples of this interrelatedness abound: the flow of refugees and of international migrants seeking better jobs and living standards; the impact of international economic events on local and national economies; the effect of transnational media and communications networks on raising the awareness and expectations of peoples. The list could go on. It is clear, however, that a common framework is needed. And any such framework should not only recognize the world's interrelatedness, it should encourage and uphold it. To do otherwise is to ignore reality."

In the early 1970’s a group of the world’s leading scientists, called the Club of Rome, carried out a study on the nature and source of global social problems. They came to the conclusion that all the major world problems that they considered were closely related and can be considered as aspects of the same problem. They called this cluster of world-wide interconnected problems ‘the human problem’.