i love it Harrison...and my hunch is with the Arab Spring and other forms of emergence that is exactly what's happening.
David On Sat, May 19, 2012 at 11:46 AM, Harrison Owen <[email protected]> wrote: > Several days ago I had the unique pleasure of joining our friends and > colleagues (by Skype) in the Ukraine for their OSONOS. Given the state of > the Ukraine, to say nothing of the state of the world, the conversation > eventually got around to the subject of Leadership and Governance – and how > could all that work. That conversation seemed to meld seamlessly with one I > had had with a new friend here in the USA… Leadership and Governance. And > mixed in was a new thought (for me) all about Emergent Governance. As I > said to my US friend…**** > > ** ** > > You started me thinking – which ordinarily is a dangerous thing. I can’t > quite pin down the logical trail, but that is not surprising because I > usually find myself thinking in circles. But one point along the way was a > conversation I was engaged in yesterday. There is an interest group which > has monthly luncheons at my club with the vaporous name of “The Human > Values Group.” In truth we talk about whatever pleases and may or may not > have value. Anyhow the conversation yesterday drifted to a consideration of > various political forms. It seems that some of our members had just > returned from Cuba, so that was the start. Then we got on to dictatorships > of various sorts ranging from China to Singapore… and shortly we were > arguing about the “goods and the bads” – which quickly morphed into > ideologies/political systems, and you know where that one could go.**** > > ** ** > > As the folks headed into the stratosphere of abstraction – I found myself > thinking, wondering might be better – Has anybody ever done a natural > history of governance? Rousseau pops to mind, but he always seemed to me > pretty idealistic, and just as doctrinaire as anybody. For sure we have > certainly done histories of governance, tracing our way back from the > present to whenever. But how about the reverse? Two folks get together, > Adam and Eve for example. Relationships form and certain modes of behavior > seem to work, others don’t. It is not a function of laws, and certainly not > legislation or “idealized models.” Just very practical – and more to the > point a natural expression of that fundamental relationship which to the > extent that it is ever verbalized might be something like --- the way we do > things around here. Well that might be the beginning of a story, but before > I got too far with that one, my mind jumped.**** > > ** ** > > To Open Space. Funny thing. We have opened space 100,000’s of times in > multiple cultures, and the behaviors are almost identical (except for > superficials like language, dress, etc). And nobody ever specified the > rules. The Principles don’t count, and yes we do announce the Law of Two > Feet – but all of that is simply to acknowledge what will happen anyhow. So > could we be looking at emergent governance? We are definitely looking at > the process of self organization (I think). Could that be the root of > governance?**** > > ** ** > > Big jump – here’s a thought. Rather than thinking about (working on, > creating) models of governance (autocratic, democratic, plutocratic, > sociocratic…whatever) which are then promulgated (you wrote a book, so did > Karl M.), and if implemented are almost inevitably laid on from the top > (wherever the top isJ)… how about starting at the bottom/beginning and > see what grows naturally? Emergent Governance!**** > > ** ** > > It would perhaps become necessary to clean things up a bit, regularize it, > so to speak – but that should be done, I suggest, all under the rubric of > finding the minimal level of structure necessary to sustain life. But all > that could only be done after the fact…of emergence.**** > > ** ** > > Just Thinking… **** > > ** ** > > Harrison**** > > ** ** > > ** ** > > ** ** > > Harrison Owen**** > > 7808 River Falls Dr.**** > > Potomac, MD 20854**** > > USA**** > > ** ** > > 189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)**** > > Camden, Maine 20854**** > > ** ** > > Phone 301-365-2093**** > > (summer) 207-763-3261**** > > ** ** > > www.openspaceworld.com**** > > www.ho-image.com (Personal Website)**** > > To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of > OSLIST Go to: > http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org**** > > ** ** > > _______________________________________________ > OSList mailing list > To post send emails to [email protected] > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > To subscribe or manage your subscription click below: > http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org > >
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