VideoThe Aspen Institute

Work and the Social Contract in the Age of AI: How Did We Get Here?

2026

https://www.aspeninstitute.org/videos/work-and-the-social-contract-in-the-age-of-ai-how-did-we-get-here/

What It Is: The first conversation in a two-part Aspen Institute series from its Economic Opportunities Program and Future of Work Initiative, tracing the history of the American social contract and how work became the anchor of economic security, mobility, and civic identity, and asking how far AI is a genuinely new force.

Why It Matters: The panel frames AI anxiety as arising within an existing crisis of confidence in the work-based social contract, not causing it, and asks whom that contract has historically served. Business leaders need that clarity to engage credibly on jobs, opportunity, and wages, a core Responsibility question about the systems the economy depends on.

How to Use It: Use it to define what "social contract" means for your company before taking a public position on AI and work, then continue with the series' second installment, Where do we go from here? on November 18.

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101 – 120 of 440 results showing

ArticleThe Shareholder Commons

System Stewardship Isn't Politics: It's Capitalism

2025

This piece explains “system stewardship,” where investors consider how company actions affect the broader economy and long-term market health. It emphasizes that this approach is not political but financial, highlighting reports showing that climate change and diversity can create systemic risks that investors should address to protect returns.

WebsiteDuke Fuqua School

The Dialogue Project: How Business Can Reduce Polarization and Build Common Purpose

2025

Housed in Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, is an initiative to explore the role business can play to reduce polarization and improve civic dialogue. Their website offers research and data on dialogue and engagement, showcases corporate initiatives that build common purpose, features news and business leaders’ perspectives, and hosts events to equip current and future leaders to navigate polarization and foster constructive conversations.

ArticleBipartisan Policy Center

The Federal Role in U.S. Elections, Visualized

Grace Gordon, 2025

This visual explainer by Grace Gordon of the Bipartisan Policy Center…This visual explainer clarifies the limited but critical federal role in U.S. elections, detailing responsibilities across Congress, numerous federal agencies, and the courts. It shows how authority is distributed across levels of government, equipping election stakeholders – including business -- to better use existing resources, identify opportunities for inter-agency collaboration and to advocate for needed improvements.

WebsiteCenter for Collaborative Democracy

The Grand Bargain Project

2025

The Grand Bargain Project finds that Americans across party lines identify the same six priorities—economic opportunity, education, healthcare, national debt, clean energy, and tax reform—as critical, with surveys showing over 90% agreement on their importance. Even more encouraging, when comparing the status quo to a shared package of 35 reforms, 77% preferred the reforms. These results point to rare cross-partisan convergence on both the problems and potential solutions, and a possible place for constructive engagement.

ReportIpsos Knowledge Center

The Ipsos Populism Report 2025

2025

Based on interviews with more than 23,000 citizens across 31 countries, Ipsos finds persistent public distrust in elites, globalization, and economic systems—driving polarization across both advanced and emerging economies. These trends underscore the need for companies to account for public sentiment and political division when shaping public affairs strategies and stakeholder engagement, especially in regions where legitimacy and trust are increasingly strained.

ArticleFiveThirtyEight

The Moderate Middle Is A Myth

Lee Drutman, 2025

Data analysis shows that voters labeled as moderates, independents, or undecided hold diverse and often conflicting views, undermining the idea of a unified “moderate middle” in today’s polarized political landscape.

ArticleBusiness Horizons / ScienceDirect

The Rise of Authoritarian Capitalism: What Does It Mean for Businesses That Seek Peace?

Benedikt Bulle, 2025

This article examines how the global rise of authoritarian capitalism is reshaping the operating environment for multinational firms. It explores tensions between economic opportunity, political stability, human rights, and democratic governance, arguing that businesses increasingly face strategic and ethical dilemmas when operating within systems where state power and market activity are tightly intertwined.

Report Lawfare Media

The Rise of the Compliant Speech Platform

Lawfare Media , 2025

This piece analyses how social-media platforms and large communication networks increasingly moderate speech, respond to regulatory pressure and curate “compliant speech” to avoid legal/regulatory risk. It explores how the corporate/platform model of content moderation intersects with free-speech norms, public trust and corporate reputational responsibilities in a digitally mediated public sphere.

WebsiteLaboratory for the American Conversation - Oregon State University Cascades

The Science of Public Discourse: A Guide for Navigating Divisive Conversations

2025

This continuing education online course by The Laboratory for the American Conversation is designed to help you understand how to have contentious conversations that don't escalate into the culture wars that have become all too common. You can apply this in your workplace and with family and friends.

ReportAllstate

The Trust Tipping Point

2025

Allstate’s 2025 research finds that trust in America is at a tipping point. While only 41% of Americans trust people across the U.S., the majority remain optimistic about their communities. The report emphasizes that rebuilding trust starts locally through engagement, leadership, and connection, and offers a three-part strategy: fostering interpersonal trust, investing in community leadership, and scaling trust-building efforts to strengthen democracy and economic resilience

ReportPolicyLink

The Values We Share: Views on Government, Fairness, and Equal Protection in the United States

Anna Kim, Vanice Dunn, and Gretchen Barton of Worthy Strategy, 2025

Interviews with 48 Americans from across ideological and demographic groups reveal broad commonality in wanting fairness and clear expectations of government—such as equal rule enforcement, responsive leadership, transparent decision-making, and dignified public services. At the same time, people diverge on what constitutes fairness, with some emphasizing opportunity, others consistent process, and others tangible outcomes that prove fairness is real. Provides a starting point for stakeholder engagement, and suggests approaches that speak to concerns across the political spectrum.

PresentationThird Side Strategies

Third Side Strategies Information Sheet

2025

An introduction to Third Side Strategies, including the rationale for focusing on CPR Governance to enable long-term value for business and society. Outlines the main motivations -- including Risk Management, Long-term Value Creation, and Supporting Business Purpose and Fiduciary Duty. Includes the main services offered and how to get involved

ReportBCG and University of Cambridge

Too Hot to Think Straight, Too Cold to Panic: Landing the Economic Case for Climate Action with Decision Makers

Amine Benayad, Annalena Hagenauer, Lars Holm, Edmond Rhys Jones, Sahradha Kämmerer, Hamid Maher, Kamiar Mohaddes, Sylvain Santamarta, and Annika Zawadzki, 2025

This report examines the economics of action and inaction on climate, energy and the environment, and finds that failing to limit global warming to below 2°C could reduce cumulative global GDP by 15% to 34% by 2100. Conversely, the analysis suggested that investing 1% to 2% of global GDP in mitigation and adaptation efforts would significantly reduce these economic damages. They conclude that the net cost of inaction—climate change impacts minus the cost of action—is estimated at 11% to 27% of cumulative GDP, underscoring the economic imperative for proactive climate and energy strategies.

ArticleSHRM

Top 5 Geopolitical Threats to Businesses in 2025

Ashleigh Popera, 2025

Summarizes five key threats based on The Conference Board’s C-Suite Outlook 2025 report, including international rivalries, global political instability, trade disruption, rising nationalism and political polarization in the workplace. Recommends assessing risk and governance, leveraging innovation and digital transformation, and strengthening cybersecurity.

ReportDNB (De Nederlandsche Bank)

Updated Guide to Managing Climate and Nature-Related Risk

De Nederlandsche Bank, 2025

This updated guide from the Dutch central bank provides supervisory expectations for financial institutions regarding climate and nature-related risks. It emphasizes governance frameworks, scenario analysis, nature-risk taxonomy, disclosures, and integration of biodiversity/natural-capital concerns alongside climate. It indicates how insurers, banks and asset-managers must incorporate natural-system dependencies into risk frameworks and corporate strategy.

ArticleThe New Yorker

What Could Citizens' Assemblies Do for American Politics?

Nick Romeo, 2025

Explores how citizens' assemblies—randomly selected groups with active facilitation deliberating on policy—could improve U.S. democratic decision-making, improve trust and reduce polarization. Shares a successful initiative in Oregon to address youth homelessness.

ReportUniversity of Notre Dame – Deloitte Center for Ethical Leadership

When and How to Respond to Controversial Topics in the Workplace

Jessica McManus Warnell, Adam Kronk, and Mary Gentile, 2025

This guidance helps leaders decide when to engage—or refrain—from responding to controversial social and political issues at work. It offers a framework for assessing relevance, risk, and responsibility, emphasizing the importance of consistency, listening, and clarity to avoid internal polarization while maintaining trust and organizational cohesion.

BookRiverhead Books

Who Is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service

Michael Lewis, Casey Cep, Dave Eggers, John Lanchester, Geraldine Brooks, Sarah Vowell, and W. Kamau Bell, 2025

This book explores who works for the government and specifically what work do they do. In a time of increased focus on government workers, this book explores the role of government workers through specific examples and stories.

ArticleUC Berkeley News

With right and left deeply divided, emerging UC Berkeley groups embrace the ‘vital center’

Edward Lempinen, 2025

Emerging student groups at UC Berkeley are creating spaces fostering respectful connection across political divides by promoting civil discourse, hosting open debates, and offering courses that equip students with skills to engage diverse perspectives—grounded in the belief that seeking knowledge is the primary mission.

WebsiteWorld Justice Project

WJP Rule of Law Index

2025

What It Is: The World Justice Project's annual Rule of Law Index, drawing on surveys of more than 215,000 households and 4,100 legal practitioners and scholars across 143 countries, scoring each country on eight factors — including Constraints on Government Powers, Absence of Corruption, Open Government, and Fundamental Rights — further broken into 44 sub-factors.

Why It Matters: The 2025 edition found the global rule-of-law recession accelerating, with 68% of countries declining (up from 57% the prior year). The United States ranked 27th out of 143 countries, falling in seven of eight factors for the third consecutive year and ranking among the ten countries with the largest declines worldwide.

How to Use It: Use the interactive country rankings to benchmark rule-of-law trends — and the specific factors driving them — in every market where your company operates, useful for enterprise risk assessments and board-level briefings on legal and regulatory exposure.

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