Academic Module "Global governance and transformation to sustainability" - by Lixiao Jiang

"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change." — Karl Marx

"The truth of knowledge is action, and the insight of action is knowledge." — Wang Yangming

"The most powerful tool in economics is not money, nor even algebra. It is a pencil. Because with a pencil you can redraw the world." — Kate Raworth

It is really an intensive and rewarding week as we entered our first Academic Module of the MGG Academy 2021. This week we have not only studied the basic concepts of global governance and sustainability, but also touched upon so many interesting topics like ocean governance, populism (Regional Call East), biodiversity, food security (Regional Call West). Besides, we also had our first round of virtual Bar Camp, which was full of mind-opening discussions and exchanges. I would take this opportunity to thank the lecturers and the MGG team for all the efforts you have made.

I found myself intrigued by nearly all the topics of this week but what inspired me most is the Doughnut Economics, the book written by Oxford academic Kate Raworth. In her book, Ms. Raworth challenged the old-schooled methodologies of economics by putting forward Doughnut-shaped model to illustrate her idea of creating a regenerative and distributive economy that take both the social factors and ecological factors into consideration. But what impressed me most is not the innovative model itself, it is the effort Kate has made to put her idea into concrete action. As I checked the website of Doughnut Economics Action Lab, I was amazed to find that many tools mentioned in the book have already been put into use in deliberating developmental strategies and have already led to numerous successful stories. For this, Kate is really a trailblazer and change-maker in the field of economics as she set up an example showing people that a good researcher does not necessarily need to be just a bookish thinker, he or she can also be an active actor. I think this also echoes the leadership model we have leant last week and the whole idea of the MGG Academy that is to combine the Knowledge, Leadership, and Change-making Actions together.

This week, we also started doing a small project using the City Portrait Canvas tool developed by the Doughnut Economics Lab and I really look forward to sharing the results with my classmates next week. 

By the way, I found the Doughnut Economics has already had a Chinese version. So congratulations to Kate!