Category: On Theory

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Liberalism Today: A Plea for an Ecologically Oriented Liberalism

Foto von Markus Winkler auf Unsplash

tl;dr: Liberalism must evolve to include Ivan Illich’s concept of conviviality, integrating ecological sustainability and social justice, emphasizing mutual dependence and ethical responsibility for today’s crises.

Liberalism, as a political philosophy and historical movement, strives for a free political, economic, and social order. Freedom, in turn, means the absence of constraints in making decisions between different options. In philosophy, political science, theology, and law, the term generally denotes a state of autonomy of a subject. In today’s times, given the pressing ecological and social challenges, there is a need for a realignment of liberalism towards an ecologically oriented model, in which the concept of conviviality by Ivan Illich plays a central role.… Read more

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Sustainability & Capitalism

Game Over. Capitalism is over if you want it.

tl,dr: Sustainability and capitalism have complex interactions. While capitalism emphasizes accumulation and expansion, sustainability requires long-term dynamic balance for all life.

Can sustainability can be reconciled with the logic of capitalism? I’ll try to sort both terms and will also talk about post-growth and degrowth. And if we’re at it, we just might want to also talk about post-capitalism and if such a thing exists.

Sustainability. A huge word, a non-word, both under- and over-complex.… Read more

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The Future of Systems is in the Past: From the Laws of Form to System Storytelling

tl;dr: Form theory as hardware enables systems research to tell formalized system narratives by (1) formalizing systems and their working as well as (2) enable understanding of systems.

The initial promise of systems research, providing a unique conceptual lens for addressing complex real-world problems, is probably more in demand in our age than ever before. Messy and intertwined problems like climate change mitigation and adaptation, managing the digital transformation of economy and society, as well as finding a new global governance framework in a time of resurgent nationalism and authoritarianism, defy classical predict-and-control approaches in the fields of economics or political sciences.

… Read more
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Degrowth and Free Trade

tl;dr: The protection of domestic social production in free trade agreements works with Degrowth and ensures peace through trade

Since David Ricardo, mainstream economics favors free trade over economic isolationism when it comes to increasing the »wealth of nations«. Although Paul Samuelson’s notable criticism on some aspects of free trade all but left a minor dent in this believe. The potential downsides of free trade, so the consensus goes, can be managed by (i) allowing for innovation and structural change, (ii) by increasing employability and enabling lifelong learning, as well as (iii) by redistributing globalization gains more equally within a country through taxation.… Read more

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From Now to Next: The Form of the Firm in the Next Economy

tl;dr: Form theory helps you envision a future for companies that enables them to create a convivial society beyond growth.

(This is an extended summary of an article published in March 2017 in a special issue on organizing for the post-growth economy in »ephemera: theory and politics in organizations«) 

When you reflect about the future, especially if you want to go beyond coffeehouse level reasoning, some conceptual framework is necessary that can tolerate the future.… Read more