Using Majority Vote to Create Autocracies

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Arial view of the Women's March on Washington with hundreds of pink hats. The state of American politics under Donald Trump and his privy Councillor Stephen “Steve” Bannon is a perfect example of using majority vote to create autocracies. Majority vote lends itself to being  divisive. The decisions are always made with yes or no answers. A bill is voted up or down. There are no other options. And once a group is divided into yes’s and no’s, people begin to manipulate others to form a majority so… Read More . . . “Using Majority Vote to Create Autocracies”

When to Use Consent and Consensus Decision-Making?

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Graphic drawing of the 5Ws plus H. The Five W's — who, what, where, when, why — are determined by policy and require consent. The 6th W, How, is delegated to the operations leader who implements policy to achieve the purpose of the circle. In sociocracy, consent and consensus decision-making are only used for policy decisions. Policy decisions are those that govern actions and allocation of resources (budget, people, etc.). But this leaves questions for many people—what other decisions are there? The distinction is clearer if you look at policy decisions vs. operations decisions. Operations decisions are the day-to-day moment-to-moment activities that implement policies. Operations decisions are normally made autocratically by the leader or by an individual who has… Read More . . . “When to Use Consent and Consensus Decision-Making?”

Carbon Neutral: How to Clean Up Your Patch

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Ashton Hayes Welcome Sign In the last ten years, the village of Ashton Hayes in Cheshire, England with a population of 936+ has taken on climate change by becoming carbon neutral. So far it has reduced its carbon emissions by 24%. To accomplish this, it adopted apolitical, voluntary self-governance—and combined it with a bit of fun. “We just think everyone should try to clean up their patch. And rather than going out and shouting about it, we just do… Read More . . . “Carbon Neutral: How to Clean Up Your Patch”

Donald Trump, Bullshit Artist, and Sociocracy

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Cartoon of a circus barker Could sociocracy have corrected democracy to prevent the election of Donald Trump, bullshit artist and astoundingly unqualified candidate, as the Republican nominee for President of the United States? Americans abroad are pelted with questions about Donald Trump. Is he real? How did he get nominated in a democratic process? Is he evidence of the US abandoning support for equality and freedom around the world? If not, why did 13,681,972 people vote for him? As the… Read More . . . “Donald Trump, Bullshit Artist, and Sociocracy”

Policy and Operations Decisions

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A Circle Meeting at Endenburg Elektrotechniek The most viewed pages and the most searched topics on Sociocracy.info continue to be those related to policy and operations decisions. The distinction between policy and operations decisions is not unique to sociocracy, but it is one that many of us don’t understand. Most often we don’t even realize that we are following a policy — it’s just the way things are done. We also don’t recognize a policy decision as distinct from an operations… Read More . . . “Policy and Operations Decisions”

A Symbol for Sociocracy: The Tree

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Book cover of the German edition of the Social Life of Trees Last year we discussed a symbol for sociocracy, Symbol of Sociocracy? — a logo. The symbol that has often emerged in workshops is the tree or tree-like networks. Well, we now have many more reasons to adopt the tree. A review on today’s New York Times of The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate — Discoveries From a Secret World by German forest ranger Peter Wohlleben explains how trees have social… Read More . . . “A Symbol for Sociocracy: The Tree”