Politics Is About Relationships

Politics Is About Relationships

Harold Saunders

2005

I. Introduction

a. Conceptual lens used to understand events determines how we act

b. Human beings themselves are most important untapped resource

c. 5 challenges to Current World:

1) How different ethnicity, race, religion, etc can work together?

2)Gap btw rich and poor widens

3) Ideological gaps widening

4) Enivornmental degradation/taxing world resources

5) How to make this the ‘Citiznes Century’ (less reliant on Govt)

d. Trying to build whole bodies politic

i) Conducting relationships btw Govt and people, and people to people

ii) Govt structures (voting, judiciary, free media, democracy) and people organizing together – Both need one another

e. Must recognize people as whole people, multifaceted, in allowing for whole body politic to work (needs, wants and background of all peoples to understand what they want and how to work together).

f. TAKE-AWAY: “Politics is a cumulative, multilevel, and open-ended process of continuous interaction over time engaging significant clusters of citizens in and out of Govt and the relationships they form to solve polticial problems in whole bodies politic across permeable borders, either within or between communities or countries.”

g. Vocabulary:

i) Worldview: How we instinctively think about experience

ii) Paradigm: Statement intended to provide starting point for further analysis and more effective practice

iii) Concept: Carefully defined idea that captures essence of paradigm in practical terms and framework for analyzing complex data and acting in relation to them.

iv) Instrument: Possible ways in which citizens organize themselves and their work to effect change

II. Chapters

a. Traditional view – Politics is about power

i) Emphasis on institutions – Not people

ii) This is realist paradigm

-Leaders of nations amass political and military power to pursue interests in a 0-sum power game

b. 20th Century – More broad definition of power

i) Total social system

ii) Political power = When people come together to get things done

iii) Soft Power (Nye)

c. Saunders view –

i) Politics is when citizens come together to solve collective problems. Their power is derived from acting together.

d. Citizens Political Process:

-Coming Together Around the Problem

1) Citizens come together around a problem

2) Mapping the Problem, Naming It and Framing Choices

3) Deliberating and Setting a Direction

-Made Based on what kind of community or country they want

4)Planning Course of Complementary Actions – Scenario Building

5) Acting Together

e. Social capital  Comes from citizens relationships

-Groups of people can achieve power by pooling voices together

f. Shift from reaction by States to interaction among citizens/States

-Citizens govern their own actions

g. Must understand people in order to work together (crucial to all analysis in creating citizens diplomacy) :

1) identity,

2) Needs and interests,

3) Power Broadly Defined

-How much power Govt has and how much power people in specific country have

4) stereotypes, perceptions

5) Process and Pattern of Interaction

h. Process of interaction is the essence of relationship

III. Examples of Citizens Diplomacy

a. South Africa

i) Black and white South Africans coming together to get rid of apartheid

b. Tajikistan

i) Citizens coming together to improve economic conditions and helped design peace process

ii) Showed economic development is often crucial to achieving citizens dialogue (creates middle class)

iii) Economic growth occurs 1st at community level

c. West Virginia

i) Several “revolutions” from American citizens coming together (Civil Rights, hippie movement, feminist movement, Vietnam antiwar movement, change in sexual mores).

ii) Helped come together to create community centers

d. Russia and US Relations

i) Looked at from citizens perspective

e. China and US Relations

i) Must look at overall relationship, not just 1 issue separately

IV. Thoughts on Application

1. Blend of relationship diplomacy (post-modern approach) and realist paradigm are future of diplomacy?
2. Diplomacy already in process of changing (more multilateral), maybe now is the time to implement citizens diplomacy