Networked Politics: Rethinking Political Organisation in an Age of Movements and Networks

Abstract

The world just now is a disturbing place for anyone who believes in peace, social justice, common goods, and ecological sanity. On the one hand, the traditional institutions of democratic control are exhausted; weakened, if not destroyed, by an unconstrained global market and superpower military ambition. On the other hand, the movements of mass protest, so visible on the eve of the invasion of Iraq that they were dubbed the “second superpower”, no longer provide the clear public focus that they once did.

We believe, however, that diverse forms of resistance hold enormous potential for creating new forms of democracy and new institutions for social change. This social and cultural creativity often takes place beneath the media radar but it can sometimes surface unpredictably to disturb the complacent consensus. Our shared belief in the existence of this only partially understood, including self-understood, potential for social transformation has led us to explore the innovations in political organisation that are underway and the tools and insights that could take them further.

We also share a curiosity in the transformative behaviour of people who frequently express common values – for example, as “ethical consumers”, vegetarians, file sharers, or participants in the social economy – but are not involved in movement or political networks.