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The Encyclopedia
of World Problems
& Human Potential

The rapidly changing state of the world makes planning in the face of complex interconnected problems a formidable challenge. Our ability to conceive adequate solutions and strategies is often undermined by our lack of understanding of the nature of problems in their wider context.  The Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential offers a radically different perspective to associations, policy-makers, social researchers and those concerned with development strategy.  By clarifying the ways in which problems reinforce and sustain each other, the Encyclopedia shifts the level of attention from isolated problems to problem cycles, and thus to sustainable strategy cycles. This allows for a more holistic understanding of the environment in which global problems and strategies are situated.  

SELECTED PROBLEMS


  • Experimental visualization of narrower problems

    Fear

    Nature:

    A feeling of alarm caused by the expectation of danger, pain, disaster or other calamities, fear may lead to aggression and violence including war and conflict of all kinds. It may also lead to discrimination, conformism, inertia, alienation, delusion, dependency, lack of participation, corruption, injustice and inequality. Fear may exist in the form of general anxiety which has no object. Fear may also be phobic, that is, very specific to a particular object, condition, environment, etc, such as claustrophobia. Fear of grievous physical injury or death in the face of a real threat may cause tremor, sweating, heart palpitation, and involuntary passing of urine or faeces. Fear itself can be a cause of death, by shock or heart attack. Fear can grip whole armies or civilian populations.

    Narrower Problems:
    Phobia
    Cowardice
    Morbidity
    Morbidity
    Morbidity
    Illness anxiety disorder
    Illness anxiety disorder
    Discouragement
    Fear of nature
    Fear of nature
    Fear of nature
    Fear of failure
    Fear of success
    Collective panic
    Fear of intimacy
    Fear of intimacy
    Fear of ostracism
    Excessive caution
    Excessive caution
    Fear of officialdom
    Fear of growing old
    Fear of growing old
    Culture-induced fear
    Culture-induced fear
    Fear of future change
    Fear of future change
    Fear of abuse of power
    Fear of abuse of power
    Lack of self-confidence
    Fear of increased autonomy
    Fear of increased autonomy
    Risk of capital investment
    Fear of increased taxation
    Fear of personal insecurity
    Fear of personal insecurity
    Fear of personal insecurity
    Fear of personal insecurity
    Fear of personal insecurity
    Orthorexia

  • Experimental visualization of narrower problems

    Mental depression

    Nature:

    Depression is a disease with a specific set of symptoms, notably a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest. Depression sufferers lose vitality, self-esteem and experience mood disorders. Depression is the cause of unreasonable and unnecessary suffering for millions of people, often to the point of disabling the sufferer. Depressed individuals usually struggle with completing their day-to-day tasks, feeling as if there’s no more point in living. 

    Depressive disorders can be found throughout the world. Depressive patients account for a significant proportion of all those requiring mental heath care and, as the majority of them remain untreated, their suffering continues to disable them and to cause losses to their families and communities. The situation is especially severe in developing countries. Lack of adequate detection and treatment is due to poorly-trained health workers, scarce resources, and insufficient knowledge.

    By 2020 depression will be the second most debilitating disease, yet in many parts of the world depression is stigmatized, with many people refusing treatment for fear of social backlash. Even so, tremendous strides are being made in the study and treatment of depression, including a better understanding of its causes and how best to treat it.

    In psychiatry, a major depressive episode refers to a clinical syndrome consisting of lowering of mood-tone (feelings of painful dejection), and loss of interest or pleasure in all, or almost all, activities, most of the time for a period of at least two weeks. It is experienced as a paralyzing listlessness, dejection and self-deprecation, as well as an overwhelming sense of hopelessness. It is a pathological state of conscious psychic suffering and guilt, accompanied by a marked reduction in the sense of personal values, and a diminution of mental, psychomotor, and even organic activity, unrelated to actual deficiency. As used by the layman, the word depression refers to the mood element, which in psychiatry would more appropriately be labelled dejection, sadness, gloominess, despair or despondency. Dysthymia is the state just below the threshold for major depression.

    Broader Problems:
    Mental illness
    Emotional disorders
    Genetic susceptibility to disease
    Autoimmune disease
    Autoimmune disease
    Affective spectrum disorders
    Narrower Problems:
    Sundown syndrome
    Sundown syndrome
    Sundown syndrome
    Sundown syndrome
    Sundown syndrome
    Sundown syndrome
    Sundown syndrome
    Sundown syndrome
    Sundown syndrome
    Mental depression in children
    Seasonal affective disorder
    Recurrent depressive disorder (RDD)
    Major depressive disorder (MDD)

  • Experimental visualization of narrower problems

    Environmental degradation

    Nature:

    Increasing population density, urbanization, industrialization and other development schemes, are exerting ever increasing pressure on the carrying capacity of land and resources, leading in particular to a rapid rate of deforestation, expanding desertification in some countries, and the near extinction of some wildlife species. Physical factors such as earthquakes, hurricanes, monsoon rains and the immense problem of poverty in some countries accelerate the decline in environmental resources.

    Broader Problems:
    Impairment
    Disruption
    Global crisis
    Loss of capacity with age
    Destruction inherent in development
    Disastrous consequences of war
    Narrower Problems:
    Global warming
    Planetary cancer
    Amenity destruction
    Dangerous substances
    Landscape disfigurement
    Radioactive contamination
    Unhealthy human environment
    Antimicrobial drug resistance
    Antimicrobial drug resistance
    Natural environment degradation
    Environmental consequences of war
    Regional environmental degradation
    Deterioration of human environment
    Indiscriminate economic development
    Indiscriminate economic development
    Indiscriminate economic development
    Socio-cultural environment degradation
    Socio-cultural environment degradation
    Poverty induced environmental degradation
    Irreversible depletion of natural capital
    Irreversible depletion of natural capital
    Irreversible depletion of natural capital
    Accidental large-scale contamination of the environment

  • Experimental visualization of narrower problems

    Juvenile delinquency

    Nature:

    Juvenile crime, as all crime, has been increasing. Brutal crime among young offenders also is increasingly evidenced in reports, particularly on urban areas. Some offenders are psychotic and their offences may range from suicide to mass murder. Others are anti-social and given to minor acts of defiance. Ease of access to weapons, drug addiction, unemployment, and economic motives, are the more obvious circumstances leading to crime; but modern societal stress, breakdown of family life, deviant role models, threats of nuclear war and the confusion in values which produce unstable feelings and distorted ideas, all contribute to aggravate violence among youth.

    Broader Problems:
    Criminals
    Anti-social behaviour
    Social disaffection of the young
    Narrower Problems:
    Shoplifting
    Youth gangs
    Youth violence
    Youth violence
    Infectious revenge
    Driving delinquency
    Student absenteeism
    Juvenile alcoholism
    Juvenile prostitution
    Drug abuse by adolescents
    Drug abuse by adolescents
    Execution of young offenders
    Crimes committed in urban schools

  • Experimental visualization of narrower problems

    Illiteracy

    Nature:

    Illiteracy is the inability to read and write. A person is defined as illiterate if he cannot, with understanding, both read and write a short and simple statement on his everyday life; and as functionally illiterate if he cannot engage in all those activities in which literacy is required for the effective functioning of his group and community, and also for enabling him to continue to use reading, writing and calculation for his own and the community's development. Lack of such abilities prevents individuals from going about their daily activities in modern society, seeking suitable employment, or moving about normally with comprehension of the usual printed expressions and messages they encounter. Its consequences include inability to take up basic social services, fill in even simple forms, and understand traffic instructions or other danger signs.

    Broader Problems:
    Ignorance
    Lack of ability
    Poverty
    Narrower Problems:
    Media illiteracy
    Media illiteracy
    Media illiteracy
    Media illiteracy
    Functional illiteracy
    Illiteracy among women
    Geographical illiteracy
    Low self image due to illiteracy
    Illiteracy among indigenous peoples
    Illiteracy among indigenous peoples
    Hindrance of communication by illiteracy
    Illiteracy as an impediment for leadership
    Illiteracy as an inhibitor of business transactions

About the Encyclopedia

The Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential is a unique, experimental research work of the Union of International Associations. It is currently published as a searchable online platform with profiles of world problems, action strategies, and human values that are interlinked in novel and innovative ways. These connections are based on a range of relationships such as broader and narrower scope, aggravation, relatedness and more. By concentrating on these links and relationships, the Encyclopedia is uniquely positioned to bring focus to the complex and expansive sphere of global issues and their interconnected nature.

The initial content for the Encyclopedia was seeded from UIA’s Yearbook of International Organizations. UIA’s decades of collected data on the enormous variety of association life provided a broad initial perspective on the myriad problems of humanity. Recognizing that international associations are generally confronting world problems and developing action strategies based on particular values, the initial content was based on the descriptions, aims, titles and profiles of international associations.

About UIA

The Union of International Associations (UIA) is a research institute and documentation centre, based in Brussels. It was established in 1907, by Henri la Fontaine (Nobel Peace Prize laureate of 1913), and Paul Otlet, a founding father of what is now called information science.
 

Non-profit, apolitical, independent, and non-governmental in nature, the UIA has been a pioneer in the research, monitoring and provision of information on international organizations, international associations and their global challenges since 1907.

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