The world’s top thinkers for the Covid-19 age INTRODUCTION BY TOM CLARK ILLUSTRATIONS BY RICH FAIRHEAD Exclusive ebook edition All the names, and all the results or many years, Prospect has made waves F by naming the world’s top thinkers, and in 2020 we went for an all new list, to fit the shaken world of the Covid age. After we published the names, with summaries of their achievements in our summer double issue, the list was opened to a public vote in which around 20,000 peo- ple took part—and many of these readers also took the chance to tell us which great minds we missed. This e-book reproduces the introduc- tion, the full list of the top thinkers with pen portraits of each, and then the detail of the vote —including the top thinker of the lot. Contents 1 Introduction by Tom Clark, editor of Prospect 2 The top 50 11 The winner 12 The rest of the top 10, plus who we missed by Sameer Rahim, managing editor of Prospect Continue reading for the top 50 thinkers of 2020 1 PROSPECT here is nothing like an emergency to make you real- A spell of enforced solitude will also turn the mind to the ques- ise the value of practical ideas. When the chips tion of who “we” really are—and prompt it to interrogate all the are down, and death rates are up, the world wants old stories about where we come from. Although it was catalysed answers—especially from its sharpest thinkers. by police brutality in the US, it may be no coincidence that the his- As Prospect revisits the task of identifying the tory wars over statue-toppling took hold this year. Thaddeus Metz, leadingT minds of the moment, in the intellectual hit parade which Angela Saini, Cornell West, Olivette Otele and William Dalrymple we have produced in varying formats since 2004, that test of imme- are all top thinkers with things to say about the many warped con- diate and real-world relevance looms large. As we compiled our sequences that can result from one culture subjugating another; longlist—drawing on the advice of distinguished experts in various Ross Douthat, meanwhile, is a thoughtful conservative voice who fields who have written for us over the years—and then whittled it cautions us against allowing frenzied arguments about identity to down towards 50, we were struck by how different the list looked silence discussion. from 2019’s. It was at the point where we had around 35 confirmed names that we noticed not one of them was a holdover. A measure of churn was expected—we put a premium on new “This year we have produced books and recent interventions, after all—but not a wholesale changing of the guard. Having previously been sceptical of those an entirely new list for a claims that Covid-19 would “change everything”—why would it?—I shaken world that is suddenly felt there was something in them. We decided to make a virtue of the disruption, and produce an entirely new list for a beginning to reset” shaken world that is beginning to reset. The immediate relevance of some of our thinkers to the Covid-19 There are some names here whose special interest it would be era speaks for itself: vaccinologist Sarah Gilbert and science writer contrived to put down to Covid-19. But even here—coming back Ed Yong being prime examples. Just as interesting, however, are to my starting point—amid a mood of anxious uncertainty, they those who work in fields a mile away from medicine, but who have have to earn their place by way of practical relevance, even if that nonetheless acquired a new salience in the dark and peculiar cir- is relevance to the big contemporary challenges that existed before cumstances of 2020. the virus. Challenges like, say, the rise of China (Julia Lovell), the In economics, after the sudden stop followed by all the stimulus decline of the west (Anne Applebaum), the politics of personality and bailouts, we are plainly going to need to talk about debt. Having (Hilary Mantel) or the twin threats to the rule of law and sound something to say on that helps two of our big brains—Stephanie Kel- constitutional governance (Bruce Ackerman, Dahlia Lithwick, ton and Thomas Piketty—earn a place on the list. In public policy, Philippe Sands). with a staggering proportion of the workforce furloughed, there is a sense that the hour of the godfather of the Universal Basic Income he diversity of the list is rich. It contains a preponderance movement, Philippe Van Parijs, might at last have come. Likewise, of women for the first time ever, and pleasingly mixes the polymathic thoughts of Ari Ezra Waldman on the problems of Tbrilliant young minds (Lisa Piccirillo) with a couple of privacy in a digital age rocket up the agenda when governments nonagenarians. everywhere are grappling with intrusive “track-and-trace” schemes. While it also includes a good mix of liberal, socialist and con- And in politics, while New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern servative voices, I can anticipate one objection in the absence of had already shown creativity in developing a governing ethos of any thinker who can truly be said to have emerged from within “kindness,” it always sounded rather airy—until she showed how the global populist insurgency associated with Donald Trump. it could be put to practical effect in the coronavirus context, and We have thought long and hard about this. We have run and will achieved some of the world’s best results. continue to run pieces by nostalgic writers who reject globalisa- So all-encompassing has been the disruption that many varied tion. We make space for serious minds who rage about all the com- and otherwise unrelated minds have found new ways to shine: Sally munities it has left behind (see Paul Collier, on p50). But as the Rooney moved from the page to the TV screen, and kept us cul- Trumpian project becomes ever-more nakedly anti-intellectual turally (and tearfully) engaged in lockdown; Eric Yuan Zoomed in and anti-reason, we struggle to regard even intelligent individuals from relative obscurity as his video platform became the virtual who choose to defend it as serious thinkers. Some readers may take meeting room, as well as the substitute pub. a different view, and see more substance in “nativism.” But for me, Other—more enduring—implications will eventually flow from Steve Bannon and his like are cynics; the value of ideas for them is the chance the lockdown gave us to reset. In the arts, different sorts purely instrumental, for use in power play. of names come to the fore: names like Jenny Odell, for example, With that one caveat, the mix is something to marvel at. The who uses discarded everyday objects to invite mindful meditation range of intellectual endeavours is a reminder of the breadth of on the transience of our day-to-day lives and how they this fit (or human genius. I hope you’ll enjoy finding out more about the don’t fit) with nature. thinkers who strike us as most pertinent to our age as much as we Spending time away from the usual bustle, and perhaps in the on the inside of Prospect did. Salute them and take the chance to garden, has raised environmental consciousness. So, too, has the jolt cast a vote (details at the end of the package) to help crown a top to reflect afresh on how all the life, health and happiness that civili- thinker for 2020. We’ll publish the full results in our next issue. sation affords hangs by a thread. We duly hail all manner of minds Oh, and please don’t miss the chance to tell us who we missed— that engage with ecology, whether that be through the critical there’s a space on the voting form. Because with the liveliest minds thinking of Timothy Morton, the rigorous popularisation of David and the biggest questions, there is never a final answer. Long may Attenborough or Carlota Perez’s thoughts on how the economy can human beings continue to discuss, disagree—and think! be steered in a greener direction as it splutters back into life. Tom Clark is editor of Prospect 2 THE WORLD’S TOP 50 THINKERS FOR THE COVID-19 AGE PROSPECT Bruce Ackerman Jacinda Ardern Constitutional scholar Prime minister of New Zealand he turbulence of the last few years will eventually set- y bringing her baby to the UN General Assembly she Ttle—but into what? The shape of tomorrow’s politics Bgrabbed the world’s attention, but over three years in depends on how this moment “constitutionalises.” If Boris office Ardern has proved to be more than a media favourite. Johnson’s prorogation wheeze sets a precedent, or Donald Her “ethos of kindness” sounded a vague way to transcend Trump’s judicial bench-packing continues much longer, lib- neoliberalism, but she’s steadily shown what it means in eral democracy is in trouble. Its defenders need to swot up fields from child welfare to the environment. Her instinctive, on how constitutions can go wrong—and right. Bruce Acker- bridge-building leadership after the Christchurch mosque man, a Yale professor who’s just as informed on De Gaulle, massacre was an inspiration. And her Covid-19 strategy— Mandela and Wałesa as he is on America’s founders, is a sure devised in lockstep with chief scientist Juliet Gerrard—built guide. His “popular sovereignty initiative” to rationalise the with intelligence and empathy on a foundation of unflinch- process for amending the US constitution could put princi- ing honesty to achieve some of the world’s best results.