Imagine All the People: Advancing a Global Citizens Movement

The Widening Circle Strategy

Can the GCM crystallize with sufficient speed and scale? It would be comforting to believe that the necessary coherence will emerge spontaneously, with little proactive direction. But there are hardly guarantees—and misplaced faith in the potential for bottom-up self-organization carries the tragic risk of opportunity lost. Indeed, past movements for systemic change, such as those that forged modern states or struggled for the rights of labor, spawnedCan the GCM crystallize with sufficient speed and scale? It would be comforting to believe that the necessary coherence will emerge spontaneously, with little proactive direction. But there are hardly guarantees—and misplaced faith in the potential for bottom-up self-organization carries the tragic risk of opportunity lost. Indeed, past movements for systemic change, such as those that forged modern states or struggled for the rights of labor, spawned efforts to consciously weave together disparate grievances and component movements into an overarching formation that spoke for all.

Similarly, unleashing the latent potential for a popular global movement requires a focused and directed effort. Therefore, we propose the launch of a new organizing initiative with the aim of catalyzing a GCM. The great complexity and scope of this task will require sustained effort and an adaptive strategy, a campaign that evolves and spreads across regions and issues in “widening circles”. For shorthand, therefore, we shall refer to this initiative, still unnamed and unformed, as The Widening Circle (TWC). TWC would engage myriad individuals and organizations in articulating a shared planetary consciousness and coordinating actions to elicit public sympathy and influence decision-making.

[quote]Catalyzing a global citizens movement will require a campaign that evolves and spreads across regions and issues in ‘widening circles.’[/quote]

To flourish under contemporary conditions, such a project would need to foster a sense of common purpose and promote coordination without compromising the autonomy of its allied organizations. Thus, it would not only respect diversity, but encourage the diverse perspectives necessary to nurture creativity and deepen understanding. Rather than a global monoculture that overrides the specificity of place-based and issue-based efforts, the aim would be to connect people and groups working on a spectrum from local to global in a process of co-creation, always seeking to balance the equally valid principles of pluralism and unity. As it evolves and adapts, TWC’s underlying core mission would persist: to advance a plural and cohesive movement for democratic global governance, justice, and sustainability.

TWC’s lines of activity would include, first, giving voice to the global citizens movement through sophisticated on-line platforms that encourage wide dialog in the search for solidarity among its geographically dispersed and culturally diverse constituents. Second, TWC would build the knowledge base, assembling relevant scholarship and conducting research to illuminate viable global visions and guide strategies for getting there. Third, TWC would encourage global citizenship through development and dissemination of effective symbols and cultural artifacts. Fourth, TWC would promote apposite actions and campaigns organized by others, while mounting its own initiatives to advance the global citizens movement as an agent of systemic change.

The “widening circle” model anticipates a phased process of organizational development, beginning with a relatively small group of committed people, supported by loose networks of individuals and organizations. While conducting its activities, the initial circle would develop a strategy for expanding to the next circle, a pattern that would continue with each successive phase. In this manner, the organization would pause periodically to evaluate and adjust, reorganizing for a larger circle and enhanced program.

This process would generate an increasingly complex organizational structure, engaging nodes at all scales from the local to the global, and across the broad range of issues. The Widening Circle’s philosophical framework and terms of engagement would be refined iteratively as new circles take ownership of its evolving perspective and organization, always honoring the democratic principles of inclusiveness, participation, subsidiarity, and transparency. At some point, TWC might become indistinguishable from or subsumed in the global citizens movement, or perhaps retain its distinct role as catalyst.

Building and expanding the TWC will require transcending conventional modes of organizing, eschewing the polarized ideological pitfalls of top-down centralization and bottom-up self-organization. The Widening Circle must seek a third way: a political culture that mirrors in practice its understanding of the contemporary world as a dialectical dance between the global whole and the integral parts. This will require the development of internal forms of governance for effectively addressing organizational matters that are irreducibly global, while leaving all else to the deliberation and choice of component entities. Of course, the set of issues deemed of shared global interest will be, no doubt, a matter of political debate and dispute between strong partisans of global unity and equally strong advocates for sub-global autonomy. The degree to which The Widening Circle can evolve an internal culture of trust and democracy for resolving such tensions will be a measure of its potential as an agency of transition, indeed, for the very possibility of a livable planetary civilization.