[bestbits] [governance] From Confusion to Clarification

[Mawaki Chango]

Hi,

That is a very good idea and worthy undertaking suggested by Wolfgang. And
I don't take Milton's reservations as reservations but in fact as a good
complement (although he seems at the same time to shy away from the idea
that we can actually do this, hiding behind Nnenna in the process ;-)

In effect, the question of having people to agree on the legitimacy of
individuals selected as _CS representatives_ is a different one from what
we need to do here.

So I will reformulate Wolfgang's suggestion in light of Milton's
observations, as follows.

1) The idea would be to map out the different worldviews, goals, ordering
values, perspectives, ideological or theoretical postulates which structure
the positions, stances and speech of CS individuals and groups actually
intervening in the IG space (not a "universal CS").

2) So let's not start with or focus on selecting authors. Rather, we should
start with a collaborative effort to identify and properly label those
worldview/ values/ goals/ perspectives/ ideologies/ theories, etc. One
example is "Social Justice" (we've got that clear enough from JNC, but
still subject to reformulation by its proponents.) What else have we got?
Would you, Milton, argue that we have a "rational actor theory" perspective
here? This may require some online survey tool with people self-identifying
themselves with the relevant labels (we might have to decide under how many
labels an individual can identify him- or herself. Each label should be
followed by one to three sentence description (preferably) just to help
everybody in their self-identification.

What I would advise against is having people who don't share a given
perspective wanting to label that perspective (or agree with it.) For
instance if some among us, on the left side, think a group among us should
be labeled "neo-liberal," that should not matter if the group in question
chooses to label itself differently. The most important thing would be that
the basics and implications of each perspective shall be presented in the
corresponding chapter. Likewise, the people recognizing themselves in a
given perspective would be the ones responsible for drafting its chapter,
and while each chapter may be submitted to our "plenary" for input /
review, this will be with the goal to make the text materially better
wherever it proves necessary but there will be no need for universal
agreement (on values, etc.)

3) Only after we have identify and properly label the fundamental
perspectives among us, will we finalize the overall outline of the volume
and start the drafting process. Again, as far as the worldviews, values and
perspectives, only people who recognize themselves under a label would be
invited to participate in the (initial) drafting of their chapter. So it
will be up to each group to decide whether they will have a collective
drafting process or they will select a few individuals to take charge of
the process or they will set up an editorial group, etc.

4) There will probably be, in addition to the "perspective chapters," some
complementary cross-cutting and thematic chapters. Here is where we may
have to form a group, including but not limited to one member from each
perspective identified, so as to reflect the take of each perspective on
the theme/issue while analyzing it.

I realize that this sounds like a research program and may be a little more
demanding to carry out than just having a group of people from each of our
coalitions to draft a chapter. But I am sure for all the energy we waste in
trying to convince people with a different worldview than our own, the
above would be the most important legacy we can leave to the next
generation of IG wonks within civil society.

Best,

Mawaki
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