Social Creator Network: Governance and 'Democracy' Compared

Monday, March 12, 2012

Governance and 'Democracy' Compared

Governance

The pace of change has continued to increase, especially since the arrival of the Internet. And with all the changes in society we saw that chasing after ever greater short-term efficiencies was really not as important as we thought. We need to be looking at estimating our chances of self-sustainability in terms of longer-term effectiveness.

Governments haven`t been able to produce self-sustainability. Our representatives are caught up in finances, and therefore ever greater efficiencies.

Therefore we are seeing increased attention paid to governance. Governance is a broader and more inclusive term than government. It requires decision-making and coordination in local communities and international society so that we become more responsive to changing conditions.

Governance is crucially important. We will look at why the role of governance shows up within an evolutionary progression in terms of decision-making within society. Governance is increasingly necessary so as to coordinate local and international outcomes for greater effectiveness and self-sustainability.

The Internet

The Internet was initially the product of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) but has progressed to become something able to support local organizing that benefits local and global communities.

International coordination amongst local communities could not have been attempted before the Internet. The way that social networking, sharing, research, and learning from one another is possible on the Internet has made organizing across national borders more informal and natural. And the more we learn to 'follow the money' in order to understand what is going on in the world, the more we see that economic depression and war all relate to finance. http://www.thrivemovement.com/tips-how-follow-money

Definitions of Governance

Governance can be defined as the evolving international relationships amongst local social, cultural, educational and political groups on the one hand, and governments and state agencies on the other.

The rise of governance has led to four main steps within the evolution of societies:

1. Militarization within, and military rule over, local and national populations is replaced with democratically-elected representatives

2. Centralized decision-making amongst elected representatives and industrialists within formerly or newly industrialized nations is decentralized so that decision-making is shared with local representatives

3. Decentralized decision-making on detention, land use and industrial emissions is shared with international social justice and environmental networks

4. Decentralized decision-making that encourages the emergence of local community action in response to problems that require local expertise within networks that include researchers, experts, and activist members of civil society

The major tool which local communities rely on is our development as people able to determine when and how we are willing to act. This requires education towards greater self-awareness and creative responsiveness to changing conditions. We need to be able to decide what will be most effective based on the longer-term self-sustainability of a particular place.

Compare our ongoing development as people to what governments rely on, which is development of policies that dictate how budgets are spent. In steps 3 and 4, we see a movement away from one-size-fits-all policy, to principles that change from situation to situation. Principles are what a person will, or will not do at the time. Principles are about taking action, not based on ideology, or ideological conditioning, but based on individual values in changing situations.

Therefore governance moves away from decision-making based on finances, i.e. away from policy.

We have seen in earlier blog posts why coordination is the newest source of value generated in today`s economy. If societies and economies are to continue developing we need to coordinate what we are willing to do based on our individual principles as members of local communities and as an international society.

Governance is extremely important now. It is through the increased role of governance that we sustain further development of society and continued evolution on our planet.

Finally, I'd like to recommend another perspective:
http://occupyto.org/2012/03/indigenous-perspectives-on-the-occupy-movement/#more-964

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Social Creator Network

Contact 416 531-8500, or

email biznouveau@gmail.com

CHANGE THE WORLD

ONE NEIGHBOURHOOD

AT A TIME

Remember how your brain helps coordinate your actions?

Your neighbourhood without a brain is a vegetable.

Your neighbourhood will look smarter, and act very differently when it has a brain... N'est-ce pas?

Check out our new initiative in collaboration for education in neighbourhoods that is all about creativity, Self-awareness and wholeness. This is what cities need if we are to return to sustainable living.
http://newcampus.wikispaces.com/Vision%2C+Mission%2C+Objectives

Participants in the Social Creator network have met in Toronto, Canada since June 2008.

We started to advance each other's projects for a world that works for everyone, creating the society that we want where we have most influence - in our neighbourhoods.

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A social creator is someone actively collaborating to bring about a society in which everyone contributes, benefits, and prospers. As a social creator you have one or more research projects, or heart-felt initiatives that fulfill your values.

We emphasize how self-awareness brings greater freedom to individuals, plus... how a shared Self-awareness introduces greater team spirit and freedom into any network of collaborative individuals.

Some people already participate in what we feel is an international social creator network. Countless groups have arisen spontaneously around the world to act in random ways unaware of the rest of the network. The Social Creator network in Toronto works to bring Self-awareness so that an underlying unity within this planet-wide activity becomes readily apparent.

We introduce greater Self-awareness within the international network by giving names to, and celebrating two different economies emerging within the movement. We can break down the now familiar term, creative economy. (See the work of University of Toronto professor, Richard Florida. Ontario factories are no longer the economic engine of Canada. The Ontario government and City of Toronto hired Florida to look at how to move society beyond economies based on manufacturing).

We coined specific terms, the coordination-based economy of mutual fulfillment, and the healing economy of conscious evolution. These are present now to move society beyond creativity and towards evolutionary competence.

These terms define two significant levels of exchange and production occurring under the umbrella term, innovative economy.

We have developed specific visions, objectives, strategies and event production methods for the two major levels within the innovative economy. Which national or municipal governments offer that?

Practical visionaries are drawn to the Toronto's Social Creator events. Some feel inspired to invite friends, daughters, sons and elders.

Hoping to see you there!

What if we re-designed society for everyone to be able to contribute, benefit and succeed?

Those who benefit most from the resource industries and manufacturing society are investors. Economies that rely on investor loans are less important for our shared future than the small, emerging economies based on human values, and more effective ways of organizing.

The Human Potential Movement, started by Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers in the 1950's and 60’s, still has relevance today. It grew out of the recognition that we all have the potential to be our best and become fully alive. It promoted ideas of individual fulfillment.

A Social Potential Movement, that respects and celebrates the individual's contribution to a fully vibrant society, is necessary NOW.

It was primarily Maslow who moved the focus of psychology away from mental illness to emphasize our potential. Let's move our focus away from inflating the security of a relatively few investors to emphasize the healthy side of society as a shared enterprise.

Ecstatic Business Practices (EBP)

Introductory sessions on organizing neighbourhoods within a creative economy

Get with the flow - discover soulful or animated action

Benefit from understanding today's emerging economies, and where they are heading.

Understand your opportunities and greatest contribution within today's economies.

A NOW Magazine article, called The Secret of Occupy, reviewed an activist conference. Here are some quotes:

"The best-attended workshop Saturday was Occupy Neighbourhoods, where facilitator Andrew Owens codified an Occupy organizing manual. Unlike project management, he said, Occupy encompasses many issues at once and relies on the spontaneous and heartfelt initiatives of individuals.

“We are an expressive movement,” he said. “People do what they feel moved to do... It’s not linear. It’s not ‘Let’s do this campaign and then this one.’ People contribute what they want to contribute.”

Soon enough, discussion turned to the possibility that Occupy might try to run some of the social services lost to the austerity knife. “We are creative; we can find our own solutions,” one woman said.

“No one can tell you a vision is too big or too small,” Owens emphasized.

And that, as Leonard Cohen would say, is “how the light gets in.”

Ellie Kirzner, editor, NOW Magazine

VISION and MISSION

Vision Statement:

A consciously evolving society now prospers from the uniqueness and value of each individual and, in concert with nature, understands the consequences of its actions.

Joyfully cultivating and embellishing our welcoming neighbourhoods, we’re seeing goodness, beauty and understanding reflected back to us.

Children and animals playing safely. Elders helping develop the wisdom of younger leaders.

Neighbours engaging in local exchanges of food, skills and talents. Through music, stories, song, and dance neighbours expressing sorrows and celebrating lives together like a warm, respectful family.

Mission:

We are a collaborative network that supports individuals incubating and transforming their social and ecological ideas into realization.

In developing a more enlightened society we are looking at coordinating social, economic and local coordination activity in neighbourhoods internationally.

Note: A mission is 'who' we are as a group. Which inherent approach we love and take towards our vision because it is based on our values and the roles we perform.

Contact 416 531-8500, or email biznouveau@gmail.com