Conclusions and Agenda for the Future Closing the conference, Professor Werner Weidenfeld summed up the arguments of the preceding two days. Participants agreed that the pace of change appears to be accelerating, and that both societies and leaders need mechanisms for coping with rapid changes.
Civil society needs to be strengthened.
While it cannot replace the state or private enterprise, civil society fills gaps left by both. Future societies that do not have sufficient balance among the three will serve their citizens poorly. Demographic change will place stresses on all industrialized countries, and most developing ones as well. As societies age, they will need to redefine work and to reshape the structures that provide for people in retirement. Our concept of privacy is under fierce pressure.