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Political debate has become one big yawn. Our politicians trot out empty cliches on cue in a ritualised format that elucidates little and achieves even less. Most people tuned out long ago. Why is this happening? Many people ask me to explain it. What are the #keyconcepts to know in thinking about this? And what are useful conceptual #tools in changing things? Some people say the country has gone #socialist. No, it hasn't. It is more accurate to say that all our institutions and political parties have adopted a common philosophy, which I would call #StatistManagerialism. Managerialism is a culture and practice. It is now the working culture and practice in the #publicsector, the #corporatesector, and the #NGOsector. This is why people in these three sectors now all sound the same: they speak the same language of #ManagementSpeak. Australian historian Don Watson says "Managerialism came to us as the German army came to Poland" - it was imposed from without, as a foreign culture, and a foreign language. If it sometimes feels like we are being ruled by an alien power, this is because we are ruled by a #managerialclass. The managerial class now rules the country. Governments come and go, but the managerial class remains - in the public service, in service delivery, in corporates, in charities, in media, and in peak sporting bodies. The rest of us are powerless observers. The reason we feel #powerless is that the govts we elect to serve us actually serve this managerial class. It is the managerial class that orders the priorities of governments and determines how govts do things. #Voters do not determine these things. Statist managerialism is the #workingphilosophy of Liberal, Labor, National and Greens. Their shared goal is to win govt so they can work with the managerial class. What is the alternative to statist managerialism? The alternative is what we had in Australia until the 1970s - #CivilSocietyConservatism. This is where most social effort towards well-being takes place in #civilsociety - in families, communities, small businesses, voluntary associations, outside the state - where the purpose of govt is to protect and nurture civil society. #RobertMenzies was a shocking groveller to Britain and the USA in foreign policy and defence, but he was the last Australian politician who understood what civil society is and why it is important. Since #Menzies, our politicians have been statist managerialists. Civil society in Australia has been shredded since the 1970s, weakened by #Left and #Right in a pincer movement. Because both Left and Right have weakened society, they are both incapable of rebuilding it. They are now consumed in #culturewars, which is best understood as a fight between Right and Left over who is responsible for the disintegration of society. In truth, they are both responsible; their culture wars are a #diversion from their weakening of civil society and their inability to rebuild it. https://lnkd.in/eSxXDn94

People in the UK, probably in common with populations of other 'so called' Western Liberal Democracies, are confused about democracy and personal freedoms. Modern democracies are not inherently immune from becoming illiberal democracies. We witnessed during Covid how easily Democratic Govts embrace totalitarian / authoritarian style polices - and the severe harm the State dished out to anyone who even questioned the veracity of said Covid policies. Therefore, it is naive to assume that our Freedoms can not be curtailed under our and any other democracy. Yes, we have a vote but that is not a blank cheque of consent for Govt to act in disregard of the People's wellbeing and that inludes the People's view of their wellbeing. It is telling that the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) assessed the Uk trending towards being a flawed democracy. The UK's current democracy ranking is 18th - behind Taiwan and Uruguay. The US has already crossed that line having been rated for the 8th consecutive year, as a “flawed democracy” (Ref.Economist Intelligence Unit). UK Freedoms are bedded in our common law dating back 800 years to the Magna Carta and gradully codified and revised by a series of further legal acts of law e.g. the Bill of Rights in 1689 and the Human Rights Act of 1998. Thus, the legal freedoms we enjoy are integral to the UK Constitution. Similarly, US Presonal Freedoms are provided by the US Constitutional not by its type of electoral franchise. The recent events on UK streets are symptomatic examples of the host British society and newcomers polarising into a competing self-interested groups. Sir Starmer beware - it is the behaviour of a despot who resorts to name calling and efforts to demonise one's fellow Brits, that from all backgrounds who have successfully assimilated successfully into and embracing British culure, fear the rise of an alien culture challenging the hegemony of our country.

My recent publication on using the location quotient (SLQ & DLQ) and shift share analysis (SSA) to identify Sragen regency economic potential. Published in Journal of Transformative Governance and Social Justice (J-TRAGOS) which can be accessed through https://lnkd.in/gwhzTzJE or by this file below.

Part 4 (final) The oft-blamed scourge of social media has contributed to this disease. It is far easier to be abusive on social media, particularly if ones identity be can hidden , than to do so face to face. This then exacerbates the trend to disrespectful, divisive, uncivilised behaviour rather than civil, reasoned debate. Appropriate policing to eradicate abusive commentary on social media must be part of the approach adopted to combat the current malaise. A tragic cause of the slide to primitivism has been the attitude and approach of many educational and cultural organisations. They should be at the forefront of civil discourse, promoting discussion on all issues, even when it is painful and not reflective of the current views of many of their stakeholders. Even more than some of the issues that are raised as being so vital, even existential issues, the greatest challenge that modern Western societies face is to recapture the preeminent position of civil discourse throughout all our communities. If this can be attained, all the other issues, no matter how complex, can be more readily addressed.

Have you checked out this article by Stephen Lambert: UK Democracy Is In ‘Crisis’ And We Need Action To Restore Public Trust And Confidence https://lnkd.in/ezz3CdrB

📣Lively discussion today during the policy debate “What role for civil society in protecting European democracy?”. All panelists showed knowledge and engagement- thank you! Benedetta De Marte, from the European Green Party (EGP) Didrik de Schaetzen, from ALDE Party, Giacomo Filibeck from, Party of European Socialists (PES) and Walter Baier from Party of the European left, underlined the importance and added value of civil society organisations, but… ❌There were two big missing pieces for me in this event- very obviously a representative of European People's Party and second….the systematic fix. 🔧A systematic “fix” for me would be the horizontal systematic engagement of party strutucres (not individuals!) that they will recognise civil society as an actor in all cases- especially when we critise based on data, give recommendations and contribute to policy making. CSO’s expertise is an asset and our arguments must be reflected in public policies as in many cases organisations representing citizens are far more flexible and responsive than public institutions. 🔧Systematic “fix” for me would be to have policy makers who know CSOs are not a threat that needs to be restricted, but a partner that needs to be respected. At this point the systematic fix is missing and we still have examples of politicians who are pushing for “foreign agents” laws in different EU-members and examples of policy makers with openly anti-NGO rhetoric in the public space. 🪞Last but least, I want to turn the mirror to CSOs for a second. We need to do our homework and make sure that we practice what we preach efficiently and without compromises in quality. As a former board member of one of the three biggest networks- I look with much hope towards networks-of-networks such as SSE - Social Services Europe , Social Platform and Civil Society Europe (CSE) - we need united efforts for keeping organisations accountable, when it comes to respecting, following and implementing civil society principles of equality and representation, good governance, transparency in management, value-based decision making and accountability. We need to showcase the success and best practices and support everyone to be a champion in that matter. Only authentic civil society can bring authentic change…and perhaps a systematic fix 🔝Thanks to Carlotta Besozzi from Civil Society Europe (CSE) , Civil society for the EU and Social Platform for putting this event together.

Some food for thought... Håkan Johansson & Anna Meeuwisse: Civil Society Elites: An Introduction "This chapter explores the gap in civil society and elite studies. Researchers have recently observed elitist tendencies in civil society in which resources are concentrated to a few powerful civil society organisations and their leaders. Civil society also shows anti-democratic tendencies and the emergence of an illiberal civil society. This chapter introduces the concept of civil society elites to address the identified gap in the research, arguing that civil society elites occupy a paradoxical elite position because they are expected to represent members, beneficiaries, and constituents against powerful groups while at the same time benefiting from their elevated position and their socialisation in elite circles. Drawing on a review of elite and civil society research, this chapter proposes a study of civil society elite composition, reproduction, integration, and contestation in order to provide novel insights into the role of civil society in contemporary liberal democracies. The chapter also presents the various contributions to the book." https://lnkd.in/dhdEetKZ

The international rules based order is broken. As it currently stands, it maintains a system of subjugation and embeds systemic racism into all power structures. It ensures that institutions, along with policymakers, can be bought and sold. This creates an environment that robs people of their empathy, which further fractures societies allowing for divide & rule to continue. This reality is well known to people of the Global South https://lnkd.in/efd5Ab_b https://lnkd.in/e55QW2_M

With the proliferation of interesting ideas across Linked In on how to deal with pressing national and community issues, it is good to consider whether there are any traps to watch out for.    A basic principle of public policy is that there are a potentially infinite number of options to achieve a particular objective, limited only by human ingenuity.    Some options are more practical and cost less than others. Some have more research and evidence behind them (sadly, however, there are risks that research outcomes may be overly influenced by a particular ideology). Some have greater support across the community. Some carry higher risks.   It is in this space that we can have constructive debate.   However, some groups are not confident that they can win people over through the quality of their ideas. So they resort to more unhelpful tactics.   At their worst, more ideological activists will attempt to exploit people’s emotions to gather support for their desired approach.   They will do this by suggesting that if you do not agree with their desired "means" then you must also not support the desired "end". This puts ordinary citizens in a difficult position, because if, for example, the policy goal is ‘end violence’ then no sane person would want to be accused of not supporting that goal.    All good people should be on their guard for rhetoric along the lines of ‘if you are not with us, you are against us.’   Such rhetoric may pay off for a group in the short term. The group may win the funding they require or succeed in repressing public debate. But in the long-run, all this behaviour does is further divide society and place greater strain on our already fragile democracy.    People should never feel pressured into supporting a particular policy.   Ultimately, caring and concerned citizens can agree on the destination (the objective) but disagree on the mode of travel (the policy or initiative).

Have you checked out this article by Stephen Lambert: UK Democracy Is In ‘Crisis’ And We Need Action To Restore Public Trust And Confidence https://lnkd.in/eV4G8gVu