As Katherine Trebeck of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance (WEAll) writes, ‘COVID-19 has revealed that enormous shifts in policy are possible. … Policies previously dismissed as unrealistic are being seriously discussed and levels of government intervention that would have been baulked at in many countries [like compulsory mask-wearing] are now being rolled out.’ The proposal made in this book for a more cooperative, compassionate, progressive society — with empathy and radical acceptance at its heart— are, without doubt, radical; but they are also within reach. The rollout, for instance, of social and emotional learning (SEL) and positive parenting programmes, and the establishment of wellbeing economies through the Wellbeing Economy Governments (WEGo) alliance, shows that psychology-informed agendas and understandings can be integrated into contemporary political practices.

To conclude the book, this chapter focuses on specific political strategies by which a psychology-informed progressive programme might be developed. It then goes on to summarise together the principal thesis of this book – that we can develop a more comprehensive, coherent, and compelling progressivism through the integration of psychology – before summing up with some final thoughts.

Political collaboration

Chapter 7 proposed a range of concrete strategies that could be adopted by separate progressive parties with the aim of creating a world more conducive to cooperation. As the Care Collective write, however, a more effective approach – and one more consistent with the progressive principles being articulated – would be an alliance of progressive parties, integrating these intra-and interpersonal concerns alongside a wider range social, economic, and ecological agendas. Despite our differences, perhaps progressives can recognise that we are all on the ‘same team’. If we believe passionately in a cooperative world, we should be able to develop the skills to cooperate with each other and overcome party partisanship – the emotionally literate politics discussed in Chapter 7 (this volume) and promoted by Compassion in Politics. Reading, for instance, in the Labour 2019 manifesto that ‘Only Labour’ can rebuild Britain's leadership on climate democracy seems deeply counterproductive and just plain wrong. Have they really not heard of the Green Party, or Caroline Lucas, or the Liberal Democrats’ commitment to a Green society and a Green economy? So often, when people think of the left, what comes to mind is the classic meme from Monty Python's Life of Brian: ‘Judean People's Front?’