On Disintegration and Integration: Outworn institutions vs. new bases for collaboration

Nation Welcomes Return Of Good Old-Fashioned Partisan Bickering

January 30, 2002 | Issue 38•03

 

Which headline do you prefer, the one above from the comedy news site The Onion, or the one below from the Baha'i International Community United Nations Office website?

 

Transforming Collective Deliberation: Valuing Unity and Justice

 

In this time of transition to a new social order, processes of social integration gather momentum alongside related processes of disintegration. Collapsed moral foundations, outworn institutions and a sense of disillusionment foment chaos and decline in the social order while, at the same time, integrative forces raise up new bases for collaboration and transform the nature and scope of collective action. Such integrative processes are evidenced by growing social networks facilitated by information technology; expanded suffrage and formal participation in governance; collective approaches to knowledge generation and dissemination; the spread of education and consciousness-raising regarding human interdependence; the evolution of new mechanisms of international cooperation, and the like. Similarly, one discerns emerging processes of decision-making that are increasingly inclusive, unifying and just, and that challenge partisanship as a means of addressing problems facing increasingly interdependent communities.

In this context, the Bahá'í International Community would like to offer its experience with a process of collective inquiry called consultation, which serves as the basis for deliberation and decision-making in Bahá’í communities around the world.

http://bic.org/statements-and-reports/bic-statements/10-0203.htm

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