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Re: [transformative-change] An analysis of governance as a topic of study.
Bill wrote:
Russel wrote:
> What I would suggest we look for in the post-industrial age is a[K
> continous democracy where each individual can make decisions for[K
> his/her own life and have them authenticated by the network of[K
> companions in his/her life. Ways of allowing smaller groups to make[K
> significant decisions should be searched for and ways of diminishing the[K
> constrictions of an elite based hierarchy created.[K
[K
There is a problem of transition when speaking of de-centralized [K
governance. As discussed, we as citizens no longer concern ourselves with [K
geographical boundaries and borders. We do, however, have a non-physical [K
war going on where governments do need to protect us and our non-physical [K
boundaries. Our 'foe' comes in the form of larger corporations or other [K
insitutions that impose specific ideologies (Consumerism, etc) onto us. [K
[KThese (most often Multinational) corporations are quick-acting as they do [K
not have any communications-overhead in their totalitarian decision making, [K
and have a huge working-class (Some of 'us') doing the work of this [K
virtual-country.[K
[K
How can we have a system of governance that will be able to protect our [K
interests as individuals when the 'foe' is itself extremely centralized?[K
: I think Bill is on to something when he links the ideas of making
: significant decisions that affect the lives of individuals and
: limiting the constrictions of an elite based hierarchy with the
: concept of the network.
: I also think that Russel has correctly identified the "foe". In my
: opinion THE political issue for the turn of the century is how to
: maintain healthy sustainable communities that nurture the quality
: life for the individuals within against the destabalizing forces
: of globalization led by transnational corporations which actively
: seek to weaken the power of place-bound governments in their quest
: for profits.
: There are two points, however, which Russel brings up that I don't
: agree with and would like to address. The first is the idea that we
: as citizens no longer concern ourselves with geographic boundaries
: and borders. Although we concern ourselves much less with where
: the boundaries will be, it is of the utmost importance that we
: concern ourselves with what these borders bring about, organizational
: closure.
: All living systems maintain a semi-permeable barrier between
: themselves and their environment. Indeed, it is the boundary
: that demarcates the passage from the dynamics of one environment
: to another. What is critical to the sustainability of any
: living system is its ability to control what passes and what
: does not pass through its semi-permeable barrier. We can think
: of the cell wall as being the quintessential example of organizatinal
: closure.
: Moving to the scale of human society, there is a battle going on
: between those who favour the dropping of all barriers in order
: to create "the level playing field" in which profit can be pursued
: without the constraints that respect for humans and their habitat
: entail and those who feel that the sovereignty of a placed people
: offers the only protection, at this time, from the exploitation
: inherent in the practive of free market capitalism.
: The MAI, for example, specifically targets the ability of place-
: bound governments to require transnational corporations to modify
: their corporate behavior so they do not adversely affect the
: quality of the environment or the social sphere. Instead, the
: TNC's want to move politics offshore, so that the important
: decisions, like the quality of the food you eat, will be
: decided by unelected technocrats working for the World Trade Council.
: The second point concerns the idea that TNC's are extremely
: centralized. Although the multinational corporations which
: gave birth to the TNC's were, the rise of the digital economy
: has enabled them to change their structure to something more
: akin to an internetworked enterprise. For example, a car
: company which has its shares traded world wide on the net of
: global stock exchanges decides to build cars in Mexico to be
: sold in Asia from which a portion of the profits go to pensioners
: living in the Midwest whose pension fund had invested in the
: company. Considering the trend to move towards the virtual
: corporation structure, I would venture to say that where
: the TNC's have gained their competitive advantage is that they
: have, for the moment, outflanked place- bound governments by
: moving from centralized control structures to ones that embrace
: the concept of distributed control.
: Once we start talking about effective distributed control
: s systems as a model for a system of governance, the idea of
: the network inevitably comes up. More on this later.
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