New Civilization News: Holocracy    
 Holocracy11 comments
picture25 Jan 2002 @ 02:31, by Flemming Funch

In trying to figure out what democracy really is and how it might work, I notice in the dictionary that the ending -cracy signifies "rule" or "government" by the agent specified by the initial element. Thus democracy, theocracy, technocracy. But, really, I'm not at all interested in being ruled by any agency other than the whole and my own sense of what is right within it. So, maybe we need a system that isn't a -cracy. Or, if anything, it should be a "Holocracy", a system that is governed by the whole, by itself. Holocracy would be the government of whole systems. And, searching on the web for that term, it incidentally leads me to some interesting folks who are using that word. For example REM and my friend Neutopia;

Here are some quick quotes from some of these places, taken out of their contexts, but maybe providing us with some clues:

Cherag's Library:
"I have been starting to call it an experiment in a self generating, self harmonizing government called 'inclusive holocracy'. Where each individual recognizes himself and all others as the Totality emanating from a particular viewpoint. It helps to eliminate political problems which I don't care to deal with too much if I don't have to."

REM:
"REM, the nonprofit, civic enterprise described as a Holocracy is designed to support and facilitate the existing local governance of communities which choose to operate under these By-Laws.REM provides a process capable of assembling community resources, ascertaining community values, defining community vision, designing and implementing a wide variety of community programs approved by members. REM voluntarily assumes responsibility for convening and mobilizing community with the goal of improving the quality of community life, and voluntarily accepts accountability for its actions. REM as a Holocracy is empowered only by the freely given consent of its members."

Neutopia:
"Holocracy is the total system of whole things in nature, the original whole which is made up of the smaller whole parts."

Civil Society's Emerging Role in Global Governance:
"Basic levels of life processes in communities are fundamental in importance but higher levels of complexity and integration require a deeper level of reflection and analysis and are more significant. As more diverse elements comprise a system, the diversity of contribution becomes a more significant consideration. At these higher levels of capacity for wholeness, what constitutes a critical mass is not the numbers of one element but the diversity of critical elements. This points to a need to expand advocacy to a "holocracy" the affirmation of wholes that envelope fundamental issues and concerns and transcend them to more inclusive wholes that define Public Interest translating the principle of subsidiarity and solidarity at various levels of the hierarchy of wholes, that are parts of more encompassing and communing wholes. This phenomenon has expanded the role of civil society organizations to defining norms for more complex systems and move from resistance and advocacy to alternative-building and creative counterparting."

The City, Sustainability and Appropriate Technology:
"We can call this way of carrying out politics “Local Action,” according to the Brazilian physicist Augusto de Franco (1995), which “is a contemporary commonplace action, developed to make viable the collaboration or a mutual service between men and women which want to live in the present in a concrete community.” All of this is part of a process which generates the construction of a mutually binding “Humanity,” decentralized and with goals in common. “In this way, the Global Humanity is slowly constructed through the development of ethical-political relationships which can only thrive in spaces of Local Action.” This new way of carrying out politics can be called “Holocracy,” that is, “a common government” or “a government for each and every person,” (Acción Local: una nueva política de la contemporaneidad, Augusto de Franco, Brazil, 1995)."

So, hmmm, common to these perspectives seem to be that it includes local action and some sort of system or process that feeds that into a bigger whole. A bottom up, decentralized approach, but one that is guided by a shared humanity and the common interests of the whole.



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11 comments

25 Jan 2002 @ 13:04 by tdeane : Holocracy
Dearest Ming, Wonderful goal and certainly reflective of the ideals toward which we seek to move, but wouldn't the next logical, workable step toward Holocracy be a true Democracy vs. what we now have?  


25 Jan 2002 @ 14:36 by ming : Democracy
The problem is that we don't quite seem to know what a true democracy is. I think that what we all want it to be is that we, the people, have direct influence over how things are. That our voice is heard and that it makes a difference. But the only system we have of carrying it out is to vote and for the majority to choose some people, who then decides how things will be. It really has nothing to do with what we think we want. But, yes, we should work on making our democracy more direct and more democratic.  


25 Jan 2002 @ 15:05 by maxtobin : Seeking democracy
A democracy is 'of the poeple for the people by the people', I don't believe we have ever seen one on this planet (I am open to input here). However, with modern technology we could have one (televoting technologies do exist). Constant referendum could be a way, no longer would we have politicians as we know them, rather we would see an evolution of great orators whose talent would be to express the distilled needs of the moment to common human language, then a simple unified consensous would emerge (localy or globaly as appropriate). Slowly we would see a feeling/knowing of empowerment 'filter down' to all, and responsible humankind would/may evolve on the planet. This is simplistic in essence but deep in consequence I believe. Just a thought, but we do need a new paradigim to move beyond our present impass. Thank you for the opportunity to move the adventure to a new level.  


25 Jan 2002 @ 19:02 by mmmark : Universal Government
There seems to be a mindset oriented to finding a Universal form of Government as high priority to what we need to pioneer. I would like to suggest again that we develop techniques of consensus and self-government here on NCN that meet our needs, to be tested before we engage on any debate over how it may or may not work for the whole nation or the world. This will require saying what we think works and then a testing of that theory, followed by corrections in a cycle of exchange that proves itself worthy of global consideration  


25 Jan 2002 @ 19:48 by ming : Self-government
I agree. We need to figure out how it works with us people here before we can pretend to go out and have the solution to the world's problems. If it doesn't work here amongst a small group of positive people who are trying hard to make it work, chances are slim that it would work for millions of people who could care less about it. So, yes, let's work out what self-government or self-organization or direct democracy or holocracy means for us here.  


4 Feb 2002 @ 14:09 by maxtobin : Televoting
Hi all, this is for ming but any one else who is interested could check it out also. I haven't had a look for a while so it may not be so up-to-date. but www.democracy.org.nz/votes is a link of interest I feel. I choose this method of delivery rather than send it to your cluttered inbox.
Blessed be Max  



17 May 2009 @ 15:08 by dragan matic @91.45.161.135 : holocracy
Hi Ming,
well, on my side (somewhere in the old europe), I've also had some thoughts about the holocracy (I've also searched internet sites who dealed with this subject, and came up to this one).
unfortunately, most of my thoughts are written in french, but a few of them are in english (meant espacially for you). please have a look on them here:
http://holocratie.over-blog.com/11-index.html
cheers,
dragan  



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29 Apr 2016 @ 04:57 by Susy @188.143.232.32 : trybxUqOptTHFQTAAM
w'salam syuzcda_k,selamat berpuasa ^^Thanks for dropping by my blog.it's not a complete one though. I did this actually for myself because I always have wanted to travel with low budget. hehe..it's a one stop info about korea for me to check once I'm there - that's my initial plan but it evolves..and I'm glad that I could help youMay is still spring but I'm afraid you will not be able to see cherry blossoms. I have created itineraries as per the label and please check it out ^^I will be writing a post about the transportation to jeju, so watch for it ok?  


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