EXPANDING ONE'S CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK - ONE KEY TO DEPOLARIZING OUR WORLD


by Charles Notess

Last Updated 8-30-07.

INTRODUCTION

To help persons broaden their worldview, I have tried to capture the essence of a multi-component system of world affairs. As part of this effort, I developed a diagram entitled: "Components and Considerations for Building Mutual Trust and Peace in an Interconnected World". The diagram aims to provide a transcendent conceptual model for viewing the many interactions among components of the whole-world system. I discuss points of entry or pressure points through which one might help maintain balance between the interactons among subsystems. I believe that only by applying the whole-system model can stable progress be maintained and spread slowly throughout the whole system. The Village Earth Model provides a good step forward in showing how important it is to focus resources of information and technical know-how through multiple entry points in a coordinated way. By so doing, people in rural villages can begin to improve their chances for progress in rebalancing the system and reducing stagnation and exploitation.

I believe that to reduce the trend toward 'culture wars' as exemplified by struggles in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Fundamentalist sects on both sides of the Atlantic, it is important to develop entry points for controlling aspects of the whole system. To focus on one cause of dissension, such as fundamentalist groups, often exacerbates the problem by increasing unbalances in other parts of the whole system.

To develop my diagram, I considered several key components of the larger system. They are: 1) components of personal and group identities, 2) the concept of community wherein a group of members share experiences, hold a set of basic values in common, and support each other in times of need, 3) the economies of villages, cities, states, nations, and the world, 4) ethno-political systems that are inceasing in scale from village level to global levels, and 5) religious systems that influence the teaching of moral values that are essential for well-functioning democratic systems of governance and a civil society.

Those interested in the role of economic institutions and how large corporations and their governments enter into the complexity in the aforementioned diagram, should view a web posting, based upon an excellent talk by Professor James Roth of Regis University in Denver. Check his web site at: (http://academic.regis.edu/jroth). The talk, he gave to the United Nations Association of Northern Colorado is now posted on his web site. Click on The UN and WORLD TRADE, which appears directly under his name at the top of his posting.

For a related descripton of how leaders of these two institutions work together to exploit the common people in America and the less developed nations read "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" by John Perkins, who wrote: "Economic hit men are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars". Perkins was one of them for ten years. He described how the U.S. and the World Bank and International Monetary Fund collaborated in these shocking scams.

For those who like to view diagrams, I have posted another diagram that interrelates systems of religion, justice, and government. (To make it readable after you click on "Trinity" in the next sentence, place the cursor inside the diagram and click the mouse left button once.) It is accessible at: Trinity.

IDENTITY

Start with the concept of personal identity - how one is viewed by others. One's personal identity is defined in terms of his: family, language, education, gender, age, career, wealth, social status in communities to which he is committed, and political power or influence. Identity influences one's life chances within the communities in which one holds membership, official or informal membership.

COMMUNITY

Communities of commitment differ in scale from that of immediate family, to neighborhood, to national professional association or labor union, to global organizations, such as the United Nations. They likewise differ in political influence and power and in economic resources.

ECONOMY

Economic power resides in small and large businesses, and the industries and organizations associated therewith, such as labor unions, banks, investment organizations, advertising agencies, and the mass media. Benjamin Barber described how corporations and large government bureaucracies wield influence at the national and global levels, overwhelming citizen efforts at civic democracy. We see evidence of this especially at election time.

POLITY

Political power is used to influence elections and, after elections to pass legislation that confuses the public and is often biased to benefit special interests. Some key examples are: reduction of controls on industrial pollution influenced by industrial lobbyists, a variety of trade embargoes, corporations avoiding taxation by lobbying for loop-holes in legislation, and so on.

These kinds of corruption in government must be counter-balanced by monitoring agencies and the legal/judicial system. However, corporate and political lobbyists and media writers have helped pack the courts and often support agency directors who follow the narrow interests of powerful corporations.

RELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVES

The bases for legal and judicial systems is rooted in the history of religion. Religious stories in the sacred writings provide stories that generate hope within followers and believers that they can overcome adversities. Religion provides what believers view as time-tested traditions and rituals that when enacted together strengthen the solidarity and faith of community members. Those concerned about life after death and relationships with transcendent forces find solace from the sacred stories. The large majority of humans become hardwired as their brains develop to relate to a caring other. This caring-other, initially their mother, later in life is replaced by the father, a teacher, mentor, supervisor at work, and societal leaders who, by example, show how to live a moral and constructive life. Gandhi, Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Martin Luther King, and others typify these moral leaders. Ultimately some few adults reach the highest stage of faith development, relating closely with the transcendent whole, that many call God, Gott, Deus and so on.

PRESSURE POINTS OF ENTRY FOR CONTROLLING THE WHOLE SYSTEM

In the world today, there are several points where controls for the whole system are out of balance. Barber and others, in recent writings, describe how corporate power on a global scale seems to be dominated by the bottom line rather than how their organizations can maintain balance among the whole for the common good. They also describe how people committed to parochial subsystems find it easy to recruit followers who feel, in many cases justifiably so, that they are exploited and repressed by the more powerful economies and polities in the world. Barber envisions civic democracies grouped together in confederations as one of the best ways to maintain balance in the whole system.

One source that links to methods based upon experience in trying to improve economies and the life chances in the Third World is accessible via links in the following website: (http://www.iisd.org/casl/). International Institute of Sustainable Develpment.

USE OF SCENARIOS - A TOOL FOR DEVELOPING AND EMBELLISHING A BROAD CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Ian Alexander and Neil Malden have edited a 2004 book entitled: Scenarios, Stories, Use Cases Through the Systems Development Life-Cycle. In a summary of the Introduction he wrote: Scenarios are a powerful antidote to the complexity of system development. Telling stories about systems helps to ensure that project stakeholders share a sufficiently wide view to avoid missing vital aspects of problems.

Scenarios range from a small number of considerations to complex systems comprised of many interacting variables, managed by experienced supervisors. Experienced observers can find actions that appear to be inconsistent, yet the inconsistencies are overlooked by some decision-makers. Other variables or considerations are ignored.

For more on scenarios, see my Section H, near the end of Chapter 5 in my E-Book.


See my book, Countering Polarization, soon to be published.

© Copyright: by Charles Notess, 2004-7. "Fair use" encouraged.