Consider this: the six largest multinational corporations in the world today collectively hold capital equivalent to the entire GDP of Europe. If Apple’s market value matches France’s GDP, we have a serious problem. Such concentrations of wealth and power are even more alarming in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which is transforming the world, and an environmental crisis that may already be beyond repair. A small number of individuals own these multinational corporations, controlling the technological capabilities that drive the digital and “green” transitions with virtually no public participation.

Despite noble intentions, COP 29 was another failure, as environmental protection and long-term sustainability are not genuine political priorities. Instead, artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly advancing and will soon require vast amounts of energy—likely nuclear—to function, once again at the expense of the environment.

We can all agree that this historical moment is marked by profound uncertainties: economic crises, pandemics, wars, and extreme weather events. Yet, it is also a time of significant confusion from a moral and ethical perspective, particularly in the West. Social democracy, for instance, now seems almost utopian, and we are increasingly distancing ourselves from the mixed, welfare-oriented models of the past. Instead, we are veering towards political forms that are more oligarchic, privatized, individualistic, and elitist—some would even say feudal.

We wrote Bussola to bring some clarity to an era of overwhelming confusion, relying on empirical data and the arguments of intellectuals who are unaligned with specific interest groups, often overlooked by the mainstream, but who possess critical, honest, and above all, deeply human perspectives on the world. What has transpired is that capital has essentially devoured the state and the public sphere, as philosopher Nancy Fraser aptly puts it, undermining democracy, social justice, and the climate.

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