[governance] Complex adaptive systems thinking (was Re: Text of Parminder's input)

[Norbert Bollow]

On Wed, 23 Dec 2015 08:13:30 -0800
Garth Graham <garth.graham at telus.net> wrote:

> But, in the context of an effective response to climate
> change, one that plays towards sustainability and resilience, if we
> don’t consciously practice complex adaptive systems thinking then (to
> paraphrase Yeats), ecologies fall apart, the centre cannot hold.

I agree. Although I would hasten to add that not nearly enough people
will be willing to learn enough about complex adaptive systems thinking
and to put it in practice, unless extremely strong incentives in favor
of doing so will be created by means of appropriate, massively strong
regulatory interventions.

> The
> fabric that nets up the world is one of complex adaptive systems, of
> which the Internet is merely one. Community Informatics nailed it
> when it declared that the global was a federation of locals because,
> of course, from a complex adaptive systems view, so is everything
> else.  I am all too well aware that nation states and corporations
> don’t agree.  But I also believe that “civil society” is quite
> capable of assuming the mantle of social justice and democracy in a
> rush towards the same centralizing totalitarianism that is being
> sought by nation states and corporations.  The winning strategy
> remains grounded in the individual.  Connect (or cooperate), until
> the other defects, then compete until the other connects.  And, yes,
> all that does is restate the golden rule in systems terms.

Again I fully agree. And I again I would insist that in addition to the
bottom-up federation of networks structure, some degree of global
coordination is needed, which needs to be consensus-based to the extent
possible, and based on a firm foundation of formal democratic
processes for decisions on matters where governance decisions are needed
but no consensus can be reached.

Greetings,
Norbert

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