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Research Teams

Introduction

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The society we live in has changed in important ways, meaning that progressives need to interpret the world afresh, apply our values to new problems and generate fresh thinking and proposals for change. 

Our understanding of the major challenges facing policymakers today informs our research priorities in this area. The programme focuses on:

  • The major relationships that shape our sense of well-being, security and ability to flourish
  • The macro-economic requirements and vision needed to shape a new fairer model of capitalism
  • The kind of state, both national and local, that is able to empower citizens and support society in the twenty-first century
  • The tasks of developing a reformed political system and culture that will address the decline of trust and moral authority associated with our politics.

With offices in both London and Newcastle, ippr views issues from national, regional and local perspectives. Reflecting ippr’s core values, the aim of the programme is to produce research to inform policies that can lead us towards a world that is sustainable, fair, democratic and secure for all.

View current projects

View ippr researchers working on this programme

The context to our projects and thinking

Over the last decade, a broadly liberal economic model delivered high employment rates and increased public revenues that government used to invest in public services and reduce poverty.  But the subsequent economic crisis has shown that a growth model based on a de-regulated finance sector, a booming property market and debt-driven consumption was ultimately unsustainable, and left some major social problems of our time unaddressed. Moreover, the priority policymakers have given to economic growth is being questioned, given powerful evidence that it is neither the best route to promoting human well-being nor sustainable in environmental terms.

Globalisation has created losers as well as winners, has driven vast income inequalities and left the demands of work and family life increasingly at odds. At the same time our population has become increasingly diverse, enriching our culture and contributing to our prosperity, but also presenting us with the new challenges and tensions.

Progressives have typically sought to achieve social change by deploying the levers of the central state.  But there are limits to what can be achieved through state intervention alone. Many of the challenges we face in terms of health, education and crime, require families, communities and individuals to play a much greater role. At the same time we know that levels of community participation and civic engagement are at all time lows.  Trust in our political system has collapsed and the gap between our political institutions and the public they are supposed to serve needs urgently to be closed.