William Ury is a respected author, the Director of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, and the cofounder of the e-Parliament, an online institution exploring ways that democratically-elected statespersons from across the world can come together to confront issues that affect the global commons—from terrorism, to economics, to environmentalism, to the first steps towards understanding the theory and practice of global governance.
In this dialogue, Bill and Ken often use the terminology of Spiral Dynamics, one of many developmental models useful to understand people's value systems. Modern developmental research has found that individuals tend to move through numerous levels, stages, memes, or waves of development, including:
Archaic-instinctual (beige)
Magic-animistic (purple)
Egocentric-power (red)
Mythic-traditional (blue)
Modern-rational (orange)
Postmodern-pluralistic (green)
Integral and higher (yellow, turquoise, second tier)
First-tier memes or stages are marked by the belief that their way of understanding the world is the only truly correct or valuable way. At second tier, the first truly integral impulses in consciousness come forth, marked by an understanding that all of the first-tier stages have a crucial, if limited, role to play in the world.
Bill mentions that he recently read an essay of Ken's titled "The War in Iraq," and noticed Ken's reference to the need for some sort of World Federation, which is why Bill wanted to initiate this dialogue with Ken. In that essay, Ken comments on how the whole situation is largely a "first-tier food fight," and why an integral perspective is so desperately needed.
Among other things, an integral perspective understands two crucial elements of the war in Iraq: 1. The United States unilaterally and preemptively invaded a sovereign nation (a largely blue-imperialist action). 2. By conservative and uncontested numbers, Saddam Hussein has murdered 400,000 of his countrymen (a largely red-warlord action). Neither action is fair or just, and so it's reasonable to postulate the need for something resembling a World Federation.
Ideally, a World Federation would legislate more integral (e.g., second tier, yellow or turquoise) laws on a global scale. Each meme would be free to be itself, so long as it wasn't oppressing, coercing, or marginalizing any other.
This dialogue is only the beginning of a much larger discussion about how, as a global community, we might rise to meet the growing complexity of a shrinking world. The more we rub shoulders with each other, the more likely someone is going to feel claustrophobic and start throwing punches. So what are we going to do when that happens? What wisdom will inform our actions?
An integral approach might be the most skillful, inclusive, and effective way to meet the challenges of tomorrow. But please don't take our word for it—we invite you to check out this dialogue and decide for yourself.... | 
