Democracy and Open Space

Chris Corrigan chris at chriscorrigan.com
Wed Sep 4 17:04:26 PDT 2002


We had a conversation earlier in the year about forms of convergence and
action planning that did not require voting.  In February I tried out
the 4N method that Michael Herman and I hammered out (Michael named
it...he gets the credit for News Now Next Nuts - and he can have it!).
It worked really well.  The record of the conversation and the story are
on The Meta Network at
http://community.tmn.com/tmn/swebsock/0007715/0679001/CS41/viewitem.cml?
22+6+54+23+0+0+1+x#here

Not voting is empowering.  People see what work needs to be done and
pick up the tasks.  People move by choice to the work that holds the
most meaning for them, and new structures emerge.  I think voting places
predetermined boundaries about what needs to happen.  As much as we can
say that "every issues is still important" voting implies that some
issues are more important than others, even if things are ranked
strictly according to where people's energies are at.  The only time I
have found voting appropriate was at the end of a one day meeting, when
my sponsor wanted things prioritized.  At that time, we gave each person
five dots and asked them to rank the most important issues for the
group.  That was all.  There was no follow up within the OST meeting on
these issues, they simply ranked them and left them at that.  With a
clear understanding of what we were doing, no one felt slighted.  But in
contexts where the voting then leads to groups to work out those issues,
I have found people generally miffed at the way that whole thing goes.

Maybe it's me (Harrison might think so...he once described the aversion
to voting as "Canadian.")

Another thing that bugs me about voting is that it says "wasn't that
Open Space thing interesting?  Okay, let's get back to reality..."  In
other words, it doesn't model the new reality, but reinforces the old
one.  I have had people express exactly this disappointment to me.  They
have said "Oh rats...we were really starting to get somewhere..."

And this "getting somewhere..."  Doesn't that echo John's notion of
democracy as a journey?  I don't think that democracy IS voting, nor do
I think that voting in and of itself is democracy.  To reduce one to the
other removes the role and responsibilities of the citizen to act and
improve the system.  Perhaps real democracy invites this action.  Voting
is just a way to see what's popular.

So OST is "democratic" if it invites folks to be citizens, encourages
them to use their feet, and provides a way for outcomes to unfold
without domination from powerful interests.

Enough musing for now.

Chris


---
CHRIS CORRIGAN
Consultation - Facilitation
Open Space Technology

Bowen Island, BC, Canada
http://www.chriscorrigan.com
chris at chriscorrigan.com

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