Chapter 18 Human Dignity Under Threat Iveta Radicova Contents 18.1 Introduction ............................................................. 338 18.2 Common Sense and Democracy ............................................. 339 18.3 Human Rights at Risk ..................................................... 342 18.4 Wellbeing and Human Dignity .............................................. 344 18.5 Global Crises—Global Challenges and the Effects on Unsafety and Uncertainty ..... 355 18.5.1 Financial Crisis .................................................. 355 18.5.2 Pandemic Crisis .................................................. 356 18.5.3 War and Energy Crisis ............................................ 358 18.6 Lessons Learnt: Political Responses to the New Challenges ...................... 360 18.6.1 Human Dignity—Pre-distribution Policy ............................. 360 18.6.2 Freedom—Flexible Social Inclusion ................................. 362 18.6.3 Equality and Non-discrimination—Universal Access ................... 363 18.6.4 Solidarity—Posterity Impact Assessments ............................ 364 18.7 Conclusions ............................................................. 366 Appendix ...................................................................... 370 References ..................................................................... 370 Abstract Crises create new social risks: to manage the risk of extreme temper- atures, reducing ecosystem-based disaster risk, improving water quality, ensuring water availability and improving agricultural practices to ensure food security, to solve energy security, wellbeing, quality of life and the peace. The value of these efforts often goes beyond the contributions to communities. So, instead of treating them as isolated initiatives, countries should integrate them into national develop- ment priorities across domains, including water security, food security, disaster risk reduction and economic performance. The thesis I try to confirm is that the applica- tion of the universal values of democracy, that is, human dignity, freedom, equality and solidarity, should be guaranteed by politics and democratic institutions. Sudden changes and new conflicts in the social order result in pronounced polarization and fragmentation of society accompanied by failing politics. The world economy is transforming and leaving the politics behind this transformation means widening the gap in economic and human development among countries, people and companies, I. Radicova (B ) Professor and Dean, Bratislava International School of Liberal Arts, Bratislava, Slovakia © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 Y. Jorens (ed.), The Lighthouse Function of Social Law, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-32822-0_18 337