This can create a sense of cognitive dissonance, as described by Peter Anthony, Managing Culture, Open University Press, ISBN 0-335-09788-X - Bibliography
Part 3 Consider - On Change - The nature of managed change
See also Part 1 - The Weight of Culture – Implications
The Evolution of Co-operation, Robert Axelrod, Penguin, 1990, ISBN 978-0140124958 - Bibliography
When I first read this book it had a wow-factor for me, it was a little step towards optimism to counter the pessimism that Galbraith's Culture of Contentment caused me. I used what Axelrod calls Tit-for-Tat as a deliberate approach in my work as a project manager, it has worked for me.
Part 3 Consider - On Power - Circumspect use of power
Back to Churchill's much quoted statement, that democracy is the worst from of government except for all the others that have been tried.
Full quote here https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/quotes/the-worst-form-of-government/
Part 3 Consider- On Power - The difficulties of ends and means
Karl von Clausewitz, On War, Pelican Classics, 1982 - Bibliography
Part 3 Consider - On Power - Difficulties of ends and means - Dangers and difficulties
Karl von Clausewitz, On War, Pelican Classics, 1982 - Bibliography
On Power - Difficulties of ends and means - Dangers and difficulties
Karl von Clausewitz, On War, Pelican Classics, 1982 - Bibliography
On Power - Difficulties of ends and means - Dangers and difficulties
A film by Alan Curtis called Oh Dearism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8moePxHpvok
Part 3 Consider - On Change - What Stops Change - Signals, distortion and feedback
Lawrence Freedman, Strategy A History, Chapter 1 - Origins p4-9 - Bibliography
Part 3 Consider- On Power - Ways of Exerting Power
Part 4 Strategy - Principles of action - The four principles
For Gramsci see Fourgacs, The Gramsci Reader, New York University Press, 2000 - Bibliography
In Galbraith's classification of power that would be a mix of condign (coercive) and conditioned (persuasive) power - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Anatomy_of_Power
Using my model of the Human Activity System, from Part 1, this is often just the simple effect of peer pressure and the desire to conform (part of our natures) overcoming our independence of mind, refer back to the discussion in - Our Natural Selves
Part 3 Consider- On Power - What is Power? - Where does power come from?
Noccolo Machiavelli, The Prince, Penguin Classics, 1961, p 91 - Bibliography
Part 3 Consider - On Power - What is power and where does it come from?
As discussed by Onara O’Neil on BBC Points of View.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07l24cr
Part 3 Consider - On Change - What Stops Change - Signals, distortion and feedback
The summary is just to give a flavour of what I mean and highlight how different it is to what we see in manifestos now. I do not wish to be prescriptive because the whole thrust of holistic political economy is that it is collective, collaborative and consensual.
Part 3 Consider - On Change - The Nature of Managed Change - Staying on Track
Academies are not obliged to have parent governors https://www.teachers.org.uk/files/AcademiesA4-leaflet-Governors-Dec10.pdf
and in some cases have actively rejected them https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-37372773
Part 3 Consider - On Change - What good change looks like
One I am familiar with is the Capability Maturity Model used by Carnegie Mellon University to measure, evaluate and improve software development processes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capability_Maturity_Model_Integration
part 3 Consider- On Change - The nature of managed change - Change as a process
This quote is from a paper "From Manpower Planning to Strategic Human Resource Management, Keith Sisson and Stuart Timperley" included in a textbook "Personnel Management, A comprehensive Guide to Theory and Practice in Britain", Edited by Keith Sisson, Blackwell Business, 2ndEd 1994, ISBN 0-631-18821 5, p167
One can argue that contingent management is actually cynical management; the idea is simple, by studying psychology and related subjects managers are able to use a toolkit of techniques to get employees to do do what they want (an exercise in power - managements right to manage), this can range from simple command and control with instant dismissal through to various forms of manipulation. When the workforce is not a stakeholder but merely a resource to be used in the maximisation of shareholder profits it seems that anything, that can be got away with, goes. Such is the strength of "there is no alternative" that such criticism as there is rarely makes it into the political debate.
Part 3 Consider - On Change - The nature of managed change
It hardly matters that behind the scenes a lot of co-operation (often cross party) goes on – it is not very visible and does not get public attention. First past the post and winner take all make for an unedifying contest, when cooperation is seen it often dismissed as an illustration that “they are all the same and part of a club”
Part 3 Consider - On Power - Difficulties of ends and means - Political parties - part of the problem
Which is arguably why anti-guerrilla or insurgency wars are the most difficult for conventional armies to combat, one that leads General Sir Rupert Smith to call for more circumspect tactics and the test of utility when conducting “war amongst the people”.
The Utility of Force, General Sir Rupert Smith, Allan Lane/Penguin, 2005, ISBN 0-713-99836-9 - Bibliography
Part 3 Consider - On Power - The difficulties of ends and means - Time reaction and Utility
The first mover advantage in Tit-for-Tat is not the same as the business strategy notion of first mover advantage.
We can see the hesitation in the start of peace talks when both sides are seeking to gain a military advantage. By definition this means the violence is still being used as a tactic to win and not as part of a de-escalation. Only by tempering the response to a reciprocal one (proportionate but not to be taken as a patsy) will progress be made, someone has to start.
Part 3 - Consider - On Power - Circumspect Use of Power
This is an example of framing, see George Lakoff https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Lakoff#Writings who insists on the importance of framing highlighting that ideas that are outside the frame can be dismissed, challengers are forced to engage in the debate using the assumptions of those creating the frame. The strength of “there is no alternative” is precisely this.
In so far as it allows the losers to be kept under control it overlaps with the role of the Zeitgeist and Hegemony referred to in What is Power and Where does it come from?, particularly the section on Ideas and Beliefs including the note referencing Gramsci, Galbraith and Our Natural Selves
The so called Overton Window is also relevant here; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_window
Part 3 Consider - On Power - Ways of Exerting Power
A very useful round up of the pitfalls of group decision making and the ways in which they can be mitigated can be found here
https://royalsociety.org/topics-policy/publications/2018/making-better-decisions-in-groups/ and the full article https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.170193#d3e1687
Part 3 Consider - On Power - What is Power and Where does it come from
The NICE website invites people to volunteer and get involved; https://www.nice.org.uk/Get-Involved/Meetings-in-Public
Part 3 Consider - On Change - What good change looks like
Formed in Octoveber 2018 (so breaking news as far as writing this is concerned) Extinction Rebellion have an exemplary set of 10 principles
https://rebellion.earth/the-truth/about-us/
Part 3 - Consider - What Can Be Done - What About Power?
Ofsted; https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted
Ofsted Parents View; https://parentview.ofsted.gov.uk
Part 3 Consider - On Change - What good change looks like
When I was in my 20’s threw myself into conventional political activity, I was a councillor for 6 years - we were very active local running a community newspaper, campaigning on local issues and successfully advocating and supporting the creation of an urban parish council. I was a parliamentary candidate in 1983. I instinctively understood the magnitude of the defeat the left had suffered in 1983 and this was reinforced in the Miners Strike of 1984. We switched our efforts to individual activity and I widened my reading in a quest to understand. I dropped out of the Labour Party in 1996, in despair of its acceptance of neo-liberal economics and lack of a realistic critique. It has been a long, halting journey to the conclusions and proposals made on this site.
Part 3 Consider - What can be done? - What about change?
Here are two
- Novel; Archipelago, Robert Harris
- Film; The Death of Stalin
Part 3 Consider - On Power - The difficulties of ends and means - Dangers and difficulties
I hope this is a original (and useful) contribution to political science. I am not aware of any detailed work on the practicalities of how a transformation of society would be brought about. Most books are long on critique and diagnosis and some make proposals but seldom go into the practicalities, I suspect this is because the normal political process is assumed to be the mechanism. My conclusion that this will not bring about a transformation of society requires me to engage with the practicalities of how peaceful change can be accomplished.
Part 3 Consider - On Change - The Nature of Managed Change
Because the term Tit for Tat is either thought of as supporting revenge or is associated with the Biblical quotation about an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth (KJB, Exodus 21) I have chosen to referred to it as establishing reciprocity. I would also separate it from the new testament ideal to turn the other cheek (KJB, Mathew 5:39), this is not an impossibly high moral standard but a very pragmatic one.
Part 3 Consider - On Power - Circumspect Use of Power
The red scare is standard fare, and despite the end of the Cold War it still hasn't gone away;
In 1924 the Daily Mail published a fraudulent letter from head of the Soviet Union Comintern, part of which said 'A settlement of relations between the two countries will assist in the revolutionising of the international and British proletariat not less than a successful rising in any of the working districts of England, as the establishment of close contact between the British and Russian proletariat, the exchange of delegations and workers, etc. will make it possible for us to extend and develop the propaganda of ideas of Leninism in England and the Colonies' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinoviev_letter
Here is a recent article which begrudgingly says 'It’s not that Labour now has a communist programme. Revolutionary socialism is as dead as any idea can be' but this is what it does say; ' 'Even now Labour supporters do not recognise that their party had inherited the worst traditions of the far left' and 'what Leninists called 'revolutionary defeatism' that is Labour’s most striking characteristic'. It goes on with the following, in quotes as a reported statement although it is unattributed 'And 'they absolutely believe that if Brexit brings chaos the voters will turn to the radical left' '. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/16/why-are-labour-party-leaders-so-quiet-on-europe---maybe-it-is-the-lure-of-disaster
For the record; The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, who turned round and applauded Cooper in the chamber as the defeat was announced, said: 'This vote is an important step to prevent a no-deal Brexit. It shows that there is no majority in parliament, the cabinet or the country for crashing out of the EU without an agreement. That is why we are taking every opportunity possible in parliament to prevent no deal.' https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jan/08/theresa-may-suffers-commons-defeat-over-no-deal-brexit
On scare tactics in general I haven't even scratched the surface;
The Daily Mail calls judges the enemies of the people - of course hiding its real intent by then saying it reporting concern by MPs https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3903436/Enemies-people-Fury-touch-judges-defied-17-4m-Brexit-voters-trigger-constitutional-crisis.html
The Sun asks if MPs can withstand the violence if Brexit is overturned - thinly disguised by referring to past riots https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/7911260/stealing-brexit-british-people-mps/
Scare tactics are also used in business and not just to cow the workforce to accept lower wages. When IBM were the big player in the IT market it was widely believed that they used FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) as a sales tactic. Indeed this is where I first encountered the term. The sales team would undermine competitors products by implying rather than saying openly they were unproven, risky, or not future proof and insinuate that no one got sacked for buying IBM, so encouraging the customer to make the safe choice. Firms buying PCs running OS2 were ultimately caught out, although OS2 was more advanced than Windows at first, it ultimately failed in the market leaving some companies with obsolete estates of PC's.
Part 3 Consider - On Power - Ways of exerting power
The need to stop the king becoming over powerful was recognised by parliament after the civil war & restoration, it is is one of the reasons that Britain has never had a large standing army.
The need to stop the government becoming over powerful was foreseen as a danger by the founders of the United States who, as a result, stipulated that citizens have the right to bear arms (albeit though a militia).
The recognition that the state has a monopoly of power is central to Hobbs view of the Social Contract (Hobbs) and it was no doubt the thought behind Mao’s axiom that all political power comes from the barrel of a gun.
Part 3 Consider - On Power - Ways of exerting power
See J. Atkinson, Manpower Strategies for flexible organisations, Personnel Management 1984, 21(8), 28-31 - failing to find the actual article online this is a summary; https://www.businessballs.com/organisational-culture/flexible-firm-model/
The concentric circles include (outside the core) public subsidy trainees. So here is an assumption that the state (i.e. us) provides money to the organisation for training. One must wonder why given that firms see their duty (and are obliged) to maximise shareholder returns. This model has developed so far that it not just public subsidy trainees that we pay for, we dip into our pockets to top up poor wages, for those on the periphery, though in work benefits.
Part 3 Consider - On Change - The nature of managed change
The phrase was used as the title for one of Tom Peters books, Tom Peters is a well know management consultant who started with McKinsey and then formed his own consulting business. In 2001 in an interview he confessed to making up data https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/excellence-gurus-surprising-confession-is-bizarre/article20935052/
Part 3 Consider - On Change - The nature of managed change
Just one example from the Local Government Chronicle
Part 3 Consider - On Change - What good change looks like
This is a huge, active subject, with lots of books. The sources I have used are;
- The Decision to Drop the Bomb, Len Giovannitti and Fred Freed, Methuen, 1967
- The Bomb: A Life Hardcover, Gerard DeGroot, Jonathan Cape, 2004
Part 3 Consider - On Power - The difficulties of ends and means
It is often unclear what the root causes and real motivations are for interventions. If we think of genocide as an extreme example which might justify an intervention I can only think of one example where it can be claimed the war was fought to end a genocide; The Vietnam-Cambodian War 1978-79 which led to the occupation of Cambodia by Vietnam for 10 years.
In 1988 the New York Times carried a letter that stated; "it was the Vietnamese - and they alone - who drove Pol Pot's regime out of Cambodia and put an end to genocide" this was also critical of the US stance which remained implacably hostile towards Vietnam https://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/08/opinion/l-vietnam-rescued-cambodians-from-genocide-046588.html
Even this case is not as clear cut as first appears; See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodian–Vietnamese_War#Background During the Vietnam War, Vietnamese and Cambodian communists had formed an alliance to fight U.S.-backed regimes in their respective countries. However in the long view there was history of conflict between Cambodia and Vietnam going back to pre-colonial times, in the period after the US withdrawal there was constituent fighting on the border between Vietnam and Cambodia. The government of Vietnam looked to the USSR for support, that of Cambodia to China. It becomes a moot point whether the Vietnamese acted out of frustration caused by constant border infringements or to "resume" Cambodia from Pol Pot. China invaded Vietnam in 1979 in response to its invasion of Cambodia.
Finally, as often happens the occupation forces were resented. See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-29106034 after the initial success and occupation by Vietnam there was was a constant insurgency against the Vietnamese occupation forces and it was this as much as the economic blockade led by the US that was responsible for the Vietnamese withdrawal in 1988.
Part 3 Consider - On Power - The difficulties of ends and means
Hubris syndrome: An acquired personality disorder? A study of US Presidents and UK Prime Ministers over the last 100 years. https://academic.oup.com/brain/article/132/5/1396/354862.
This also gave rise to a book Hubris Syndrome, David Owen, Methuen 2012 (paperback ISBN: 9780413777270).
Part 3 Consider - On Power - The difficulties of ends and means - Dangers and Difficulties
The Harvard Business Review Article from 1979 can be found here https://hbr.org/1979/03/how-competitive-forces-shape-strategy. A google search for Porters 5 forces will show how ubiquitous this has become as an analysis tool.
Part 3 Consider - On Power - What is power? - Where does power come from?
See for example this discussion from Sussex University where they give some background to the Powercube referencing Gramsci
https://www.powercube.net/other-forms-of-power/gramsci-and-hegemony/
Part 3 Consider - On Power - What is Power? - Where does power come from?
Fully explained here; Against Elections, The Case for Democracy, David Van Reybrouck, Bodley Head, 2016 - Bibliography
Part 3 - Consider - On Power - What is power and where does it come from?
Part 4 - Act - Tactics - Organisation - New forms of representation
W. W. Rostow, The Stages of Economic Growth, A Non-Communist Manifesto, Second Edition, Cambridge University Press, 1971, ISBN 0-521-09650-2 - Bibliography
The stages are identified as; Traditional Society, Pre-Conditions for Take-off, Take-off, Drive to Maturity, Maturity, High Mass Consumption
Part 3 Consider - On Change - The Nature of Managed Change - Change as a Process
Robert Sapolsky, Behave, Bodley Head, ISBN 978 184 7922 168, Epilogue, p 673 - Bibliography
On Power - What is power? - Where does power come from?
General Sir Rupert Smith, The Utility of Force, Penguin/Allen Lane 2005 - Bibliography
On Power - Circumspect use of power
How technology disrupted the truth, The Guardian· by Katharine Viner · July 12, 2016
Part 3 Consider - On Change - What Stops Change - Signals, distortion and feedback