How Compassion can Transform our Politics, Economy, and Society

How Compassion can Transform our Politics, Economy, and Society draws together experts across disciplines ? ranging from psychology to climate science, philosophy to economics, history to business ? to explore the power of compassion to transform politics, our society, and our economy.

The book shows that compassion can be used as the basis of a new political, economic, and social philosophy as well as a practical tool to address climate breakdown, inequality, homelessness, and more. Crucially, it also provides a detailed plan for its execution. It marks the first time that the study of compassion has been applied across multiple disciplines.

The book provides a template for the study of compassion on an interdisciplinary basis and will appeal to academics, professionals, and the general reader searching for a fresh and inspiring approach to the seemingly intractable problems facing the world.

Introduction: Lord Dubs; Section 1: The background to compassion; 1: The science of compassion, Paul Gilbert; 2: The history of compassion, Barbara Taylor; 3: The philosophy of compassion, AC Grayling; 4: Hate and compassion, Marina Cantacuzino; Section 2: The manifesto for compassion; 5: Business, Henry Richards; 6: Climate, Mark Maslin and Simon L. Lewis; 7: Crime, Joe Sim; 8: Culture, Julian Baggini; 9: Economics, Danny Dorling; 10: Immigration, Ala Sirriyeh; 11: Justice, Pragna Patel; 12: Social Security, Frances Ryan; Section 3: How we get there; 13: Beyond right and wrong, Jennifer Nadel; 14: Compassion in politics, Matt Hawkins

Matt Hawkins is Co-Director of the think-tank Compassion in Politics. He was part of the Nobel Peace Prize- winning team at the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), which successfully lobbied the UN to introduce a ban on nuclear weapons. Most recently, he managed the Equal Civil Partnerships Campaign, which secured the introduction of civil partnerships for mixed-sex couples.

Jennifer Nadel is Co-Director of the think-tank Compassion in Politics. She is a qualified barrister, author, political strategist, activist, speaker, and award-winning television journalist. She has reported for the BBC, Channel 4 News, and was ITN’s Home Affairs Editor. She has run for parliament twice and is the co-author of The Sunday Times Bestseller We: A Manifesto for Women Everywhere, which is a roadmap for compassionate change.