0:00:00.280,0:00:01.815
Well, as many of you know,

0:00:01.839,0:00:04.221
the results of the recent[br]election were as follows:

0:00:05.160,0:00:07.776
Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate

0:00:07.800,0:00:09.696
won a landslide victory

0:00:09.720,0:00:11.800
with 52 percent of the overall vote.

0:00:12.520,0:00:14.776
Jill Stein, the Green candidate,

0:00:14.800,0:00:17.400
came a distant second, with 19 percent.

0:00:18.080,0:00:20.536
Donald J. Trump, the Republic candidate,

0:00:20.560,0:00:22.840
was hot on her heels with 14 percent,

0:00:23.680,0:00:27.096
and the remainder of the vote[br]were shared between abstainers

0:00:27.120,0:00:30.160
and Gary Johnson,[br]the Libertarian candidate.

0:00:35.360,0:00:39.280
Now, what parallel universe[br]do you suppose I live in?

0:00:40.760,0:00:42.776
Well, I don't live in a parallel universe.

0:00:42.800,0:00:45.600
I live in the world,[br]and that is how the world voted.

0:00:47.160,0:00:49.800
So let me take you back[br]and explain what I mean by that.

0:00:50.800,0:00:52.016
In June this year,

0:00:52.040,0:00:54.200
I launched something[br]called the Global Vote.

0:00:54.800,0:00:57.880
And the Global Vote[br]does exactly what it says on the tin.

0:00:58.640,0:01:00.296
For the first time in history,

0:01:00.320,0:01:03.056
it lets anybody, anywhere in the world,

0:01:03.080,0:01:06.080
vote in the elections[br]of other people's countries.

0:01:07.040,0:01:08.326
Now, why would you do that?

0:01:09.120,0:01:10.736
What's the point?

0:01:10.760,0:01:13.096
Well, let me show you what it looks like.

0:01:13.120,0:01:14.520
You go to a website,

0:01:15.800,0:01:17.086
rather a beautiful website,

0:01:17.840,0:01:20.656
and then you select an election.

0:01:20.680,0:01:22.720
Here's a bunch that we've already covered.

0:01:23.960,0:01:27.096
We do about one a month, or thereabouts.

0:01:27.120,0:01:29.936
So you can see Bulgaria,[br]the United States of America,

0:01:29.960,0:01:32.456
Secretary-General of the United Nations,

0:01:32.480,0:01:35.416
the Brexit referendum at the end there.

0:01:35.440,0:01:38.216
You select the election[br]that you're interested in

0:01:38.240,0:01:41.496
and you pick the candidates.

0:01:41.520,0:01:44.456
These are the candidates[br]from the recent presidential election

0:01:44.480,0:01:47.576
in the tiny island nation[br]of São Tomé and Príncipe,

0:01:47.600,0:01:49.976
199,000 inhabitants,

0:01:50.000,0:01:51.381
off the coast of West Africa.

0:01:52.520,0:01:57.016
And then you can look at the brief summary[br]of each of those candidates

0:01:57.040,0:01:59.536
which I dearly hope is very neutral,

0:01:59.560,0:02:02.376
very informative and very succinct,

0:02:02.400,0:02:04.720
and when you've found[br]the one you like, you vote.

0:02:05.640,0:02:07.176
These were the candidates

0:02:07.200,0:02:10.056
in the recent Icelandic[br]presidential election,

0:02:10.080,0:02:11.366
and that's the way it goes.

0:02:12.920,0:02:17.640
So why on Earth would you want to vote[br]in another country's election?

0:02:18.720,0:02:21.816
Well, the reason[br]that you wouldn't want to do it,

0:02:21.840,0:02:23.056
let me reassure you,

0:02:23.080,0:02:26.976
is in order to interfere in the democratic[br]processes of another country.

0:02:27.000,0:02:28.656
That's not the purpose at all.

0:02:28.680,0:02:30.096
In fact, you can't,

0:02:30.120,0:02:32.576
because usually what I do[br]is I release the results

0:02:32.600,0:02:36.136
after the electorate in each[br]individual country has already voted,

0:02:36.160,0:02:38.976
so there's no way that we could[br]interfere in that process.

0:02:39.000,0:02:40.376
But more importantly,

0:02:40.400,0:02:41.976
I'm not particularly interested

0:02:42.000,0:02:44.256
in the domestic issues[br]of individual countries.

0:02:44.280,0:02:45.840
That's not what we're voting on.

0:02:46.680,0:02:50.616
So what Donald J. Trump or Hillary Clinton[br]proposed to do for the Americans

0:02:50.640,0:02:52.656
is frankly none of our business.

0:02:52.680,0:02:55.696
That's something that only[br]the Americans can vote on.

0:02:55.720,0:02:59.256
No, in the global vote,[br]you're only considering one aspect of it,

0:02:59.280,0:03:02.480
which is what are those leaders[br]going to do for the rest of us?

0:03:03.480,0:03:06.136
And that's so very important[br]because we live,

0:03:06.160,0:03:08.576
as no doubt you're sick[br]of hearing people tell you,

0:03:08.600,0:03:12.840
in a globalized, hyperconnected,[br]massively interdependent world

0:03:13.880,0:03:16.616
where the political decisions[br]of people in other countries

0:03:16.640,0:03:18.856
can and will have an impact on our lives

0:03:18.880,0:03:21.120
no matter who we are,[br]no matter where we live.

0:03:22.440,0:03:24.296
Like the wings of the butterfly

0:03:24.320,0:03:26.616
beating on one side of the Pacific

0:03:26.640,0:03:30.176
that can apparently create[br]a hurricane on the other side,

0:03:30.200,0:03:32.856
so it is with the world[br]that we live in today

0:03:32.880,0:03:34.576
and the world of politics.

0:03:34.600,0:03:38.800
There is no longer a dividing line between[br]domestic and international affairs.

0:03:39.920,0:03:42.336
Any country, no matter how small,

0:03:42.360,0:03:44.416
even if it's São Tomé and Príncipe,

0:03:44.440,0:03:46.976
could produce the next Nelson Mandela

0:03:47.000,0:03:48.200
or the next Stalin.

0:03:49.640,0:03:53.616
They could pollute the atmosphere[br]and the oceans, which belong to all of us,

0:03:53.640,0:03:56.560
or they could be responsible[br]and they could help all of us.

0:03:57.600,0:04:00.696
And yet, the system is so strange

0:04:00.720,0:04:04.416
because the system hasn't caught up[br]with this globalized reality.

0:04:04.440,0:04:07.656
Only a small number of people[br]are allowed to vote for those leaders,

0:04:07.680,0:04:09.736
even though their impact is gigantic

0:04:09.760,0:04:10.960
and almost universal.

0:04:12.040,0:04:13.456
What number was it?

0:04:13.480,0:04:16.016
140 million Americans voted

0:04:16.040,0:04:18.296
for the next president[br]of the United States,

0:04:18.320,0:04:21.255
and yet, as all of us knows,[br]in a few weeks time,

0:04:21.279,0:04:23.896
somebody is going to hand over[br]the nuclear launch codes

0:04:23.920,0:04:25.120
to Donald J. Trump.

0:04:25.720,0:04:28.536
Now, if that isn't having[br]a potential impact on all of us,

0:04:28.560,0:04:29.760
I don't know what is.

0:04:30.520,0:04:36.240
Similarly, the election[br]for the referendum on the Brexit vote,

0:04:37.200,0:04:40.616
a small number of millions[br]of British people voted on that,

0:04:40.640,0:04:43.336
but the outcome of the vote,[br]whichever way it went,

0:04:43.360,0:04:45.056
would have had a significant impact

0:04:45.080,0:04:49.496
on the lives of tens, hundreds of millions[br]of people around the world.

0:04:49.520,0:04:51.400
And yet, only a tiny number could vote.

0:04:51.960,0:04:53.440
What kind of democracy is that?

0:04:54.600,0:04:56.336
Huge decisions that affect all of us

0:04:56.360,0:05:00.216
being decided by relatively[br]very small numbers of people.

0:05:00.240,0:05:01.576
And I don't know about you,

0:05:01.600,0:05:03.760
but I don't think[br]that sounds very democratic.

0:05:04.360,0:05:06.136
So I'm trying to clear it up.

0:05:06.160,0:05:07.616
But as I say,

0:05:07.640,0:05:09.496
we don't ask about domestic questions.

0:05:09.520,0:05:12.576
In fact, I only ever ask two questions[br]of all of the candidates.

0:05:12.600,0:05:15.096
I send them the same[br]two questions every single time.

0:05:15.120,0:05:16.536
I say, one,

0:05:16.560,0:05:19.696
if you get elected, what are you[br]going to do for the rest of us,

0:05:19.720,0:05:23.136
for the remainder of the seven billion[br]who live on this planet?

0:05:23.160,0:05:25.096
Second question:

0:05:25.120,0:05:28.336
what is your vision[br]for your country's future in the world?

0:05:28.360,0:05:29.920
What role do you see it playing?

0:05:30.560,0:05:32.680
Every candidate,[br]I send them those questions.

0:05:33.360,0:05:35.456
They don't all answer. Don't get me wrong.

0:05:35.480,0:05:37.256
I reckon if you're standing

0:05:37.280,0:05:39.656
to become the next president[br]of the United States,

0:05:39.680,0:05:42.056
you're probably pretty tied up[br]most of the time,

0:05:42.080,0:05:46.136
so I'm not altogether surprised[br]that they don't all answer, but many do.

0:05:46.160,0:05:47.656
More every time.

0:05:47.680,0:05:49.736
And some of them do much more than answer.

0:05:49.760,0:05:52.896
Some of them answer in the most[br]enthusiastic and most exciting way

0:05:52.920,0:05:54.136
you could imagine.

0:05:54.160,0:05:56.656
I just want to say a word here[br]for Saviour Chishimba,

0:05:56.680,0:05:58.096
who was one of the candidates

0:05:58.120,0:06:00.376
in the recent Zambian[br]presidential election.

0:06:00.400,0:06:04.936
His answers to those two questions[br]were basically an 18-page dissertation

0:06:04.960,0:06:08.616
on his view of Zambia's[br]potential role in the world

0:06:08.640,0:06:10.656
and in the international community.

0:06:10.680,0:06:13.120
I posted it on the website[br]so anybody could read it.

0:06:13.920,0:06:16.240
Now, Saviour won the global vote,

0:06:16.960,0:06:18.840
but he didn't win the Zambian election.

0:06:19.320,0:06:20.696
So I found myself wondering,

0:06:20.720,0:06:23.656
what am I going to do[br]with this extraordinary group of people?

0:06:23.680,0:06:26.536
I've got some wonderful people here[br]who won the global vote.

0:06:26.560,0:06:28.256
We always get it wrong, by the way.

0:06:28.280,0:06:29.496
The one that we elect

0:06:29.520,0:06:32.400
is never the person who's elected[br]by the domestic electorate.

0:06:33.640,0:06:36.560
That may be partly because[br]we always seem to go for the woman.

0:06:37.400,0:06:39.536
But I think it may also be a sign

0:06:39.560,0:06:43.136
that the domestic electorate[br]is still thinking very nationally.

0:06:43.160,0:06:45.296
They're still thinking very inwardly.

0:06:45.320,0:06:48.816
They're still asking themselves,[br]what's in it for me

0:06:48.840,0:06:50.936
instead of what[br]they should be asking today,

0:06:50.960,0:06:52.720
which is, what's in it for we?

0:06:54.000,0:06:55.216
But there you go.

0:06:55.240,0:06:57.376
So suggestions, please, not right now,

0:06:57.400,0:06:59.400
but send me an email if you've got an idea

0:06:59.424,0:07:02.384
about what we can do[br]with this amazing team of glorious losers.

0:07:03.800,0:07:06.256
We've got Saviour Chishimba,[br]who I mentioned before.

0:07:06.280,0:07:07.656
We've got Halla Tómasdóttir,

0:07:07.680,0:07:10.576
who was the runner up[br]in the Icelandic presidential election.

0:07:10.600,0:07:13.296
Many of you may have seen[br]her amazing talk at TEDWomen

0:07:13.320,0:07:14.536
just a few weeks ago

0:07:14.560,0:07:18.136
where she spoke about the need[br]for more women to get into politics.

0:07:18.160,0:07:20.680
We've got Maria das Neves[br]from São Tomé and Príncipe.

0:07:21.520,0:07:23.136
We've got Hillary Clinton.

0:07:23.160,0:07:25.216
I don't know if she's available.

0:07:25.240,0:07:26.440
We've got Jill Stein.

0:07:27.480,0:07:30.336
And we covered also the election

0:07:30.360,0:07:32.840
for the next Secretary-General[br]of the United Nations.

0:07:33.465,0:07:35.656
We've got the ex-prime minister[br]of New Zealand,

0:07:35.680,0:07:37.776
who would be a wonderful[br]member of the team.

0:07:37.800,0:07:39.296
So I think maybe those people,

0:07:39.320,0:07:41.976
the glorious loser's club,[br]could travel around the world

0:07:42.000,0:07:43.376
wherever there's an election

0:07:43.400,0:07:46.776
and remind people[br]of the necessity in our modern age

0:07:46.800,0:07:48.416
of thinking a little bit outwards

0:07:48.440,0:07:50.631
and thinking of[br]the international consequences.

0:07:52.440,0:07:54.336
So what comes next for the global vote?

0:07:54.360,0:07:56.136
Well, obviously,

0:07:56.160,0:08:00.616
the Donald and Hillary show[br]is a bit of a difficult one to follow,

0:08:00.640,0:08:03.576
but there are some other[br]really important elections coming up.

0:08:03.600,0:08:05.416
In fact, they seem to be multiplying.

0:08:05.440,0:08:08.576
There's something going on,[br]I'm sure you've noticed, in the world.

0:08:08.600,0:08:11.840
And the next row of elections[br]are all critically important.

0:08:13.280,0:08:14.776
In just a few day's time

0:08:14.800,0:08:17.856
we've got the rerun[br]of the Austrian presidential election,

0:08:17.880,0:08:19.656
with the prospect of Norbert Hofer

0:08:19.680,0:08:21.656
becoming what is commonly described

0:08:21.680,0:08:25.160
as the first far-right head of state[br]in Europe since the Second World War.

0:08:26.280,0:08:27.696
Next year we've got Germany,

0:08:27.720,0:08:28.936
we've got France,

0:08:28.960,0:08:31.096
we've got presidential elections in Iran

0:08:31.120,0:08:32.320
and a dozen others.

0:08:32.919,0:08:35.056
It doesn't get less important.

0:08:35.080,0:08:36.679
It gets more and more important.

0:08:38.400,0:08:42.176
Clearly, the global vote[br]is not a stand-alone project.

0:08:42.200,0:08:43.679
It's not just there on its own.

0:08:44.760,0:08:46.016
It has some background.

0:08:46.040,0:08:50.056
It's part of a project[br]which I launched back in 2014,

0:08:50.080,0:08:51.640
which I called the Good Country.

0:08:52.440,0:08:55.000
The idea of the Good Country[br]is basically very simple.

0:08:55.840,0:08:59.296
It's my simple diagnosis[br]of what's wrong with the world

0:08:59.320,0:09:00.520
and how we can fix it.

0:09:01.800,0:09:04.216
What's wrong with the world[br]I've already hinted at.

0:09:04.240,0:09:06.976
Basically, we face[br]an enormous and growing number

0:09:07.000,0:09:10.176
of gigantic, existential[br]global challenges:

0:09:10.200,0:09:12.856
climate change, human rights abuses,

0:09:12.880,0:09:17.080
mass migration, terrorism,[br]economic chaos, weapons proliferation.

0:09:18.080,0:09:21.256
All of these problems[br]which threaten to wipe us out

0:09:21.280,0:09:23.416
are by their very nature[br]globalized problems.

0:09:23.440,0:09:27.840
No individual country has the capability[br]of tackling them on its own.

0:09:28.760,0:09:30.496
And so very obviously

0:09:30.520,0:09:34.136
we have to cooperate[br]and we have to collaborate as nations

0:09:34.160,0:09:36.018
if we're going to solve these problems.

0:09:36.560,0:09:38.920
It's so obvious, and yet we don't.

0:09:39.880,0:09:41.760
We don't do it nearly often enough.

0:09:42.640,0:09:46.216
Most of the time,[br]countries still persist in behaving

0:09:46.240,0:09:50.896
as if they were warring, selfish tribes[br]battling against each other,

0:09:50.920,0:09:53.656
much as they have done[br]since the nation-state was invented

0:09:53.680,0:09:55.256
hundreds of years ago.

0:09:55.280,0:09:57.416
And this has got to change.

0:09:57.440,0:10:00.776
This is not a change in political systems[br]or a change in ideology.

0:10:00.800,0:10:02.736
This is a change in culture.

0:10:02.760,0:10:04.760
We, all of us, have to understand

0:10:05.640,0:10:09.656
that thinking inwards is not the solution[br]to the world's problems.

0:10:09.680,0:10:13.656
We have to learn how to cooperate[br]and collaborate a great deal more

0:10:13.680,0:10:16.080
and compete just a tiny bit less.

0:10:17.200,0:10:19.576
Otherwise things[br]are going to carry on getting bad

0:10:19.600,0:10:22.800
and they're going to get much worse,[br]much sooner than we anticipate.

0:10:23.760,0:10:25.656
This change will only happen

0:10:25.680,0:10:27.416
if we ordinary people

0:10:27.440,0:10:30.256
tell our politicians[br]that things have changed.

0:10:30.280,0:10:32.816
We have to tell them[br]that the culture has changed.

0:10:32.840,0:10:35.416
We have to tell them[br]that they've got a new mandate.

0:10:35.440,0:10:38.336
The old mandate[br]was very simple and very single:

0:10:38.360,0:10:40.536
if you're in a position[br]of power or authority,

0:10:40.560,0:10:44.176
you're responsible for your own people[br]and your own tiny slice of territory,

0:10:44.200,0:10:45.416
and that's it.

0:10:45.440,0:10:48.136
And if in order to do[br]the best thing for your own people,

0:10:48.160,0:10:51.216
you screw over everybody else[br]on the planet, that's even better.

0:10:51.240,0:10:52.976
That's considered to be a bit macho.

0:10:53.000,0:10:56.376
Today, I think everybody[br]in a position of power and responsibility

0:10:56.400,0:10:58.016
has got a dual mandate,

0:10:58.040,0:11:01.016
which says if you're in a position[br]of power and responsibility,

0:11:01.040,0:11:02.896
you're responsible for your own people

0:11:02.920,0:11:06.160
and for every single man, woman,[br]child and animal on the planet.

0:11:07.280,0:11:09.656
You're responsible[br]for your own slice of territory

0:11:09.680,0:11:13.376
and for every single square mile[br]of the Earth's surface

0:11:13.400,0:11:14.776
and the atmosphere above it,

0:11:14.800,0:11:18.136
and if you don't like that responsibility,[br]you should not be in power.

0:11:18.160,0:11:20.216
That for me is the rule of the modern age,

0:11:20.240,0:11:23.616
and that's the message that we've got[br]to get across to our politicians,

0:11:23.640,0:11:26.936
and show them that that's the way[br]things are done these days.

0:11:26.960,0:11:28.640
Otherwise, we're all screwed.

0:11:30.040,0:11:31.656
I don't have a problem, actually,

0:11:31.680,0:11:34.616
with Donald Trump's credo[br]of America first.

0:11:34.640,0:11:37.056
It seems to me that that's[br]a pretty banal statement

0:11:37.080,0:11:40.256
of what politicians have always done[br]and probably should always do.

0:11:40.280,0:11:43.720
Of course they're elected to represent[br]the interests of their own people.

0:11:44.480,0:11:47.456
But what I find so boring[br]and so old-fashioned

0:11:47.480,0:11:50.216
and so unimaginative[br]about his take on that

0:11:50.240,0:11:52.760
is that America first[br]means everyone else last,

0:11:54.280,0:11:58.456
that making America great again[br]means making everybody else small again,

0:11:58.480,0:11:59.680
and it's just not true.

0:12:00.640,0:12:03.536
In my job as a policy advisor[br]over the last 20 years or so,

0:12:03.560,0:12:07.176
I've seen so many hundreds[br]of examples of policies

0:12:07.200,0:12:10.736
that harmonize the international[br]and the domestic needs,

0:12:10.760,0:12:12.736
and they make better policy.

0:12:12.760,0:12:16.336
I'm not asking nations[br]to be altruistic or self-sacrificing.

0:12:16.360,0:12:17.696
That would be ridiculous.

0:12:17.720,0:12:19.120
No nation would ever do that.

0:12:19.840,0:12:23.656
I'm asking them to wake up and understand[br]that we need a new form of governance,

0:12:23.680,0:12:24.880
which is possible,

0:12:25.640,0:12:27.456
and which harmonizes those two needs,

0:12:27.480,0:12:30.520
those good for our own people[br]and those good for everybody else.

0:12:31.520,0:12:33.736
Since the US election and since Brexit

0:12:33.760,0:12:36.136
it's become more and more obvious to me

0:12:36.160,0:12:38.776
that those old distinctions[br]of left wing and right wing

0:12:38.800,0:12:40.096
no longer make sense.

0:12:40.120,0:12:41.760
They really don't fit the pattern.

0:12:42.760,0:12:45.056
What does seem to matter today

0:12:45.080,0:12:46.696
is very simple,

0:12:46.720,0:12:48.896
whether your view of the world is

0:12:48.920,0:12:52.616
that you take comfort[br]from looking inwards and backwards,

0:12:52.640,0:12:57.360
or whether, like me, you find hope[br]in looking forwards and outwards.

0:12:58.240,0:12:59.736
That's the new politics.

0:12:59.760,0:13:03.400
That's the new division that is[br]splitting the world right down the middle.

0:13:04.800,0:13:07.696
Now, that may sound judgmental,[br]but it's not meant to be.

0:13:07.720,0:13:09.656
I don't at all misunderstand

0:13:09.680,0:13:13.800
why so many people find their comfort[br]in looking inwards and backwards.

0:13:14.560,0:13:17.056
When times are difficult,[br]when you're short of money,

0:13:17.080,0:13:19.176
when you're feeling[br]insecure and vulnerable,

0:13:19.200,0:13:21.696
it's almost a natural[br]human tendency to turn inwards,

0:13:21.720,0:13:23.736
to think of your own needs

0:13:23.760,0:13:25.856
and to discard everybody else's,

0:13:25.880,0:13:29.616
and perhaps to start to imagine[br]that the past was somehow better

0:13:29.640,0:13:32.040
than the present or the future[br]could ever be.

0:13:32.720,0:13:35.176
But I happen to believe[br]that that's a dead end.

0:13:35.200,0:13:37.456
History shows us that it's a dead end.

0:13:37.480,0:13:39.616
When people turn inwards[br]and turn backwards,

0:13:39.640,0:13:41.416
human progress becomes reversed

0:13:41.440,0:13:45.000
and things get worse for everybody[br]very quickly indeed.

0:13:46.720,0:13:48.136
If you're like me

0:13:48.160,0:13:50.856
and you believe in forwards and outwards,

0:13:50.880,0:13:55.576
and you believe that the best thing[br]about humanity is its diversity,

0:13:55.600,0:13:58.376
and the best thing about globalization

0:13:58.400,0:14:02.696
is the way that it stirs up[br]that diversity, that cultural mixture

0:14:02.720,0:14:05.736
to make something more creative,[br]more exciting, more productive

0:14:05.760,0:14:08.696
than there's ever been before[br]in human history,

0:14:08.720,0:14:11.240
then, my friends,[br]we've got a job on our hands,

0:14:12.160,0:14:15.056
because the inwards and backwards brigade

0:14:15.080,0:14:17.616
are uniting as never before,

0:14:17.640,0:14:19.576
and that creed of inwards and backwards,

0:14:19.600,0:14:22.160
that fear, that anxiety,

0:14:23.040,0:14:24.856
playing on the simplest instincts,

0:14:24.880,0:14:27.416
is sweeping across the world.

0:14:27.440,0:14:29.376
Those of us who believe,

0:14:29.400,0:14:32.136
as I believe, in forwards and outwards,

0:14:32.160,0:14:34.040
we have to get ourselves organized,

0:14:35.080,0:14:38.720
because time is running out[br]very, very quickly.

0:14:40.240,0:14:41.456
Thank you.

0:14:41.480,0:14:42.800
(Applause)