Date: 2024-12-21 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00018344
Initiative
The Next System
Today, We’re Redefining What’s Possible ... What does “changing the system” mean?
Peter Burgess
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Date: 2024-12-21 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00018344 | |||||||||
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Burgess COMMENTARY Peter Burgess | |||||||||
| Today, We’re Redefining What’s Possible Inbox x The Next System Project nextsystem@democracycollaborative.org via automations.mcsv.net 1:23 PM (55 minutes ago) to me Today, We’re Redefining What’s Possible Dear Peter, What does “changing the system” mean? You know that the economic and political challenges people face in this country, and indeed around the world, are deep-rooted. Each day brings new evidence of the inability, and often the unwillingness, of our current system of political economy to solve those problems. We see our job at The Next System Project as breaking that intractability. We’re told that we can’t do better than our current system of global capitalism and a “democracy” that does not live up to the idea of government by and for the people. We say, yes, we can do better. And we take it upon ourselves to show how. To that end, we have been gathering some of the most interesting and important proposals for political-economic alternatives—in effect, descriptions of new systems. Some are more detailed than others, but each seeks to envision something very different from today’s political economy. The series is called “New Systems: Possibilities and Proposals.” We have commissioned two dozen essays that offer new ideas about how we get to a world that is truly democratic, where equal opportunity is real and not a slogan, and where sustainable and equitable economic prosperity replaces today’s extractive economy of concentrated wealth and power. We intend these papers to help us redefine what is possible, to push the boundaries of political debate beyond today’s stagnation and paralysis and toward a substantive dialogue about what a radically different system would look like and how to build it. Please take a moment to review the series, and help us spread these alternative system models by sharing this email with your friends and encouraging them to sign up for updates. One more thing: Be sure to also check out our Next System Podcast. We regularly interview the most interesting people on the cutting edge of system change. Our podcasts dive deep into pressing issues from climate change and climate justice to the racial wealth gap and possibilities for a job guarantee. Be sure to follow The Next System Podcast on iTunes, Soundcloud, Google Play, and Stitcher Radio, or subscribe to our RSS feed. Sincerely, P.S. Please help us spread these alternative system models by sharing this email with your friends and encouraging them to sign up for updates. Read our 'New Systems' series Share Tweet Forward Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Visit our website Copyright © 2020 Democracy Collaborative, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you indicated you wanted to stay updated about The Next System Project. Our mailing address is: Democracy Collaborative 1200 18th Street NW Suite 1225 Washington, DC 20036 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list Skip to main content ABOUT LEARN SYSTEMS DONATE Search A PROJECT OF Democracy Collaborative A geometric construction overlaid over a gradient New Systems: Possibilities and Proposals Breadcrumb Learn Collections New Systems: Possibilities and Proposals June 28, 2017 New Systems: Possibilities and Proposals Truly addressing the problems of the twenty-first century requires going beyond business as usual – it requires “changing the system.” But what does this mean? And what would it entail? The inability of traditional politics and policies to address fundamental U.S. challenges has generated an increasing number of thoughtful proposals that suggest new possibilities. Individual thinkers have begun to set out – sometimes in considerable detail – alternatives that emphasize fundamental change in our system of politics and economics. We at the Next System Project want to help dispel the wrongheaded idea that “there is no alternative.” To that end, we have been gathering some of the most interesting and important proposals for political-economic alternatives – in effect, descriptions of new systems. Some are more detailed than others, but each seeks to envision something very different from today’s political economy. Individually and collectively, these papers challenge the deadly notion that nothing can be done – disputing that capitalism as we know it is the best and, in any case, the only possible option. We have been working with their authors on the basis of a comparative framework aimed at encouraging them to elaborate their visions to include not only core economic institutions but also – as far as is possible – political structure, cultural dimensions, transition pathways, and so forth. The result is two-dozen papers, to be released in small groups over the coming months. Individually and collectively, these papers challenge the deadly notion that nothing can be done – disputing that capitalism as we know it is the best and, in any case, the only possible option. They offer a basis upon which we might greatly expand the boundaries of political debate in the United States and beyond. We hope this work will help catalyze a substantive dialogue about the need for a radically different system and how we might go about building it. June 13, 2019 How to create a thriving global commons economy by Vasilis Kostakis, Michel Bauwens Not since Marx identified Manchester’s manufacturing plants as blueprints for the new capitalist society have our political economy’s fundamentals faced a more profound transformation. As structural crises beset capitalism, a new mode of production is emerging: commons-based peer production. DEMOCRATIC OWNERSHIP May 1, 2018 A drawing of roots against a colored gradient Solidarity Economy: Building an Economy for People & Planet by Emily Kawano The solidarity economy is a global movement to build a just and sustainable economy. It is not a blueprint theorized by academics in ivory towers. Rather, it is an ecosystem of practices that already exist—some old, some new, some still emergent—that are aligned with solidarity economy values. There is already a huge foundation upon which to build. ENVIRONMENT & ENERGY DEMOCRATIC OWNERSHIP MOVEMENT STRATEGY & HISTORY April 18, 2017 Navigating System Transition in a Volatile Century Navigating System Transition in a Volatile Century by Michael T. Lewis A shift in paradigm from profit-driven economic growth to a steady-state economy will not be accomplished if we can only identify partners within our own “system silo.” DEMOCRATIC OWNERSHIP DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE April 18, 2017 Cooperative Commonwealth & the Partner State Cooperative Commonwealth & the Partner State by John Restakis Economic democracy is the foundation of any viable alternative to capitalism as we know it. It is the absence of democracy in our economies that is destroying democracy in our politics and allowing the expansion of the toxic forms of capitalism we are witnessing today. DEMOCRATIC OWNERSHIP DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE April 18, 2017 Diversifying Public Ownership Diversifying Public Ownership by Andrew Cumbers Different forms of public ownership are advocated for different parts of the economy, but with an emphasis upon the implementation of democratic and decentered institutional frameworks. DEMOCRATIC OWNERSHIP DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE April 17, 2017 The Joyful Economy The Joyful Economy by Gus Speth Next System Project Co-chair Gus Speth explores a vision for the future in which the goal of economic life is to sustain, nourish, and restore human and natural communities, so that the material and non-material blessings of life are available to all. COMMUNITY & PLACE ENVIRONMENT & ENERGY February 27, 2017 The Economy for the Common Good The Economy for the Common Good by Christian Felber, Gus Hagelberg The fundamental failure of the present system is that economic success is measured strictly according to monetary indicators, such as the Gross Domestic Product for countries, or financial profit for businesses. MONEY & BANKING DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE February 27, 2017 Earthland: Scenes from a Civilized Future Earthland: Scenes from a Civilized Future by Paul Raskin This essay is written as a dispatch from the future. We visit Earthland in 2084, the flourishing planetary civilization that has emerged out of the great crises and struggles that today still lie before us. COMMUNITY & PLACE DEMOCRATIC OWNERSHIP PUBLIC PLANNING February 27, 2017 The Promise of a Million Utopias The Promise of a Million Utopias by Michael Shuman Michael Shuman outlines systematic change that would transfer power from above to below, including a decentralized United States that has a sense of solidarity with the rest of humanity across the planet. COMMUNITY & PLACE February 27, 2017 Cultivating Community Economies Cultivating Community Economies by J.K. Gibson-Graham, Jenny Cameron, Kelly Dombroski, Stephen Healy, Ethan Miller In this paper, J.K. Gibson-Graham and Community Economies Collective (CEC) members use Marx’s analysis of “class as a process” (of producing, appropriating, and distributing surplus) to unpack the diversity of economies that exist in any historical or geographic context. COMMUNITY & PLACE November 3, 2016 What’s Next? Parecon, or Participatory Economics by Michael Albert The benefits and costs any economic actor faces should be the same as those faced by everyone else because we are all people and all entitled to comparable conditions of life. PUBLIC PLANNING REPORTS November 3, 2016 Six Theses on Saving the Planet Six Theses on Saving the Planet by Richard Smith We can’t reorganize, reprioritize, restructure the world industrial economy in a rational and sustainable manner, unless we do so directly and deliberately. DEMOCRATIC OWNERSHIP ENVIRONMENT & ENERGY DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE November 3, 2016 Towards a New, Green Economy Towards a New, Green Economy by Peter A. Victor, Tim Jackson The objective of the green economy is to achieve a shared (socially just) and a lasting (environmentally sustainable) prosperity. DEMOCRATIC OWNERSHIP ENVIRONMENT & ENERGY MONEY & BANKING November 3, 2016 Well-being Economy: A Scenario for a Post-growth Horizontal Governance System Well-being Economy: A Scenario for a Post-growth Horizontal Governance System by Lorenzo Fioramonti In a well-being economy, the money system will need to follow the same distributed model of governance as the economy itself, in order to provide appropriate levels of economic stimulus and control at local, national, and international levels. DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE HEALTH & WELLBEING MONEY & BANKING August 10, 2016 The New Economy: A Living Earth System Model The New Economy: A Living Earth System Model by David Korten Once we recognize that it is our life energy at play, we can begin to identify the opportunities available to us to redirect that energy from serving money, and the suicide economy, to serving life and the living Earth economy. COMMUNITY & PLACE ENVIRONMENT & ENERGY DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE August 10, 2016 The Good Society The Good Society by Henning Meyer The Good Society is based on a community approach because it recognizes our mutual interdependencies and joint interests. The Good Society project aims to revitalize the internationalist tradition of social democracy and seeks to build alliances across the globe. DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE August 10, 2016 Start With Worker Self-Directed Enterprises Start With Worker Self-Directed Enterprises by Richard D. Wolff For the economic system to serve the people, the people need to be in charge. DEMOCRATIC OWNERSHIP August 10, 2016 Democratizing Wealth: A Next System Model for the U.S. South and Beyond Democratizing Wealth: A Next System Model for the U.S. South and Beyond by Ed Whitfield The problem with the existing system is not that it does not produce absolute equality but rather that it denies the overwhelming majority the opportunity to utilize their skills, energy, and interest in being productive members of the community. COMMUNITY & PLACE DEMOCRATIC OWNERSHIP RACE & ETHNICITY April 28, 2016 Commoning as a Transformative Social Paradigm Commoning as a Transformative Social Paradigm by David Bollier In facing up to the many profound crises of our time, we face a conundrum that has no easy resolution: how are we to imagine and build a radically different system while living within the constraints of an incumbent system that aggressively resists transformational change? COMMUNITY & PLACE DEMOCRATIC OWNERSHIP April 28, 2016 Building a Cooperative Solidarity Commonwealth Building a Cooperative Solidarity Commonwealth by Jessica Gordon Nembhard Nembhard describes a solidarity system as a non-hierarchical, non-exploitative, equitable set of economic relationships and activities geared toward the grassroots. DEMOCRATIC OWNERSHIP RACE & ETHNICITY April 28, 2016 Toward Democratic Eco-socialism as the Next World System Toward Democratic Eco-socialism as the Next World System by Hans A. Baer Eco-socialism seeks to come to grips with the growth paradigm inherent in capitalism and to which post-revolutionary societies in the past subscribed and still do today. ENVIRONMENT & ENERGY DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE April 28, 2016 A Civic Economy of Provisions A Civic Economy of Provisions by Marvin T. Brown The framework of a civic economy of provision integrates the three basic practices of any human community: providing for one another, protecting one another, and creating meaning together. COMMUNITY & PLACE HEALTH & WELLBEING March 1, 2016 Participatory Economics and the Next System Participatory Economics and the Next System by Robin Hahnel The institutions and decision-making procedures of a participatory economy are designed to promote economic democracy, economic justice, environmental sustainability, and human solidarity—all while achieving economic efficiency. DEMOCRATIC OWNERSHIP PUBLIC PLANNING March 1, 2016 Economic Democracy Economic Democracy by David Schweickart The more experiments there are with other economic structures that contribute to democratizing the economy, the more we will learn as to the strengths and weaknesses of alternative structures. DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE DEMOCRATIC OWNERSHIP March 1, 2016 Whole Systems Change Whole Systems Change by Riane Eisler What kind of social configuration supports the expression of our human capacities for consciousness, caring, and creativity—or, alternately, our capacities for insensitivity, cruelty, and destructiveness? GENDER & SEXUALITY DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE HEALTH & WELLBEING March 1, 2016 Social Democracy Social Democracy by Lane Kenworthy When basic needs are met, we tend to prefer more security, broader opportunity, and confidence that living standards will improve over time. DEMOCRACY & GOVERNANCE Newsletter Sign Up Email Address Email Address ABOUT LEARN SYSTEMS DONATE Contact Search Our team The Next System Project Facebook Twitter © 2020 The Democracy Collaborative. All rights reserved. | |||||||||