What challenges are facing the Western world in the early 21st century? What fate is awaiting the nation states? Will they continue to exist or will they be replaced by empires? What will the role of the state be? Will it shrink and lose significance or, on the contrary, grow stronger? Will everybody have to work, will they have a job in the future? In all events, will there be enough work for all? And what fate is awaiting the family? How about belief? What will follow from the prolongation of human life? Can social welfare systems, one of the most important achievements of the 20th century, be maintained? Can we wait until the West offers new answers and proposals for solutions or should we make up our minds and follow our own ideas? These are some of the questions to which Mária Schmidt seeks answers in this volume. While her point of view is undoubtedly that of a historian, her thoughts are focused on the future.