Deliberating Alternative Futures
In response to the inadequate corporate-state responses to our global challenges, we are witnessing an explosion of self-motivated communal, grassroots initiatives and social movements pushing for more meaningful systemic transitions and transformative agendas. Modern societies are characterised by their fundamental dependence on (1) Capital replacing labor as the ultimate source of value; (2) Carbon – fossil fuels or more generally speaking, extractivism; (3) Compulsive economic growth through relentless commodification of socio-ecological relations and a multi-century mass appropriation of the commons, sustained through the constant promotion of consumerist cultures across the world; (4) Coloniality, i.e. the ongoing stratifying power relations and epistemes necessary for maintaining the integrity of intersectional hierarchies; and finally (5) Corruptive politics, energized by the rise of monopoly-finance capital, corporate-state interest-driven advances in surveillance, datafication, bio- and neuro-technology, and warfare. We call the above 5Cs, the five intrinsic characterizers of today’s world civilization system (Hosseini, 2020).
Alternative Futures Research Hub (AFRHub)
The question of what kind of new civilizational forms, both at the local and global levels, should or would ultimately replace the currently failing ones signifies the urgency of promoting utopian visions based on profoundly different perceptions of civilization. Indeed, we need to ‘re-imagine civilization’ anew. To be originative, the new movements need to address the major elements of what constitutes a self-sustaining civilization.
👉READ MORE ABOUT THE HUB HERE👈
ABOUT THE PROJECT
Learn about the aims, background, methodology, funding sources and the findings of the project
PUBLICATIONS
See the publication outcomes of the project
Events and Presentations
See the list of public presentations, workshopts, seminars, symposiums and webinars
Transitional & Reformist Alternatives

Fieldwork Site 1
Progressive Alternatives to Liberal Democracy & Populism

Fieldwork Site 2
Progressive Alternatives to Capitalist Economies

Fieldwork Site 3
Ecocentric Alternatives

Fieldwork Site 4
MEET OUR TEAM
Passionately committed to help communities build their own futures free from the commodification of humanity
Chief Investigator: Dr S A Hamed Hosseini
Senior Lecturer, Sociology and Anthropology, The University of Newcastle, Australia
Chief Investigator: A./Prof. James Goodman
Associate Professor, Social and Political Science, The University of Technology Sydney, Australia
Chief Investigator: Prof. Verity Burgmann
Professor, Politics and International Relations, Monash University, Australia
Partner Investigator: Prof. Barry K. Gills
Professor, Development Studies, The University of Helsinki, Finland
Partner Investigator: Professor Heikki Patomaki
Professor, World Politics, The University of Helsinki, Finland
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