New Systems Reader

James Gustave Speth is senior fellow and co-chair of the The Next System Project at The Democracy Collaborative. Formerly dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, and chair of the UN Development Group, he served as a senior adviser on environmental issues to Presidents Carter and Clinton. He is the author, co-author, or editor of seven books including America the Possible: Manifesto for a New Economy (2012); and most recently, the 2014 memoir Angels by the River, which traces his path from mainstream environmental insider to a champion of fundamental systemic change in our political and economic institutions. Kathleen Courrier retired in 2016 from her position as vice president of communications at the American Institutes for Research. Before that, she was vice president of communications at the Urban Institute in Washington for 14 years, publications director at World Resources Institute from its inception, communications head and then acting director of the Center for Renewable Resources, a writer/editor for the Academy for Educational Development, and a freelance writer/editor. She is past president of Washington Book Publishers and a former book columnist for SIERRA magazine. Her articles and reviews have appeared in The Washington Post, Columbia Journalism Review, Issues in Science and Technology, Los Angeles Times, and MIT's Technology Review.

"The pandemic of 2020 has made the question of economic and social transformation ever more urgent. As the failures of neoliberalism multiply, what should take its place? The Next System Project has been one of the most fruitful efforts to articulate possible paths forward. This collection—a veritable who's who of visionaries—is a must-read for anyone interested in creating an egalitarian, sustainable, and humane successor to capitalism."—Juliet Schor, author, After The Gig: How the Sharing Economy Got Hijacked and How to Win It Back"Aged to perfection, Gus Speth is a global treasure. He and Kathleen Courrier have assembled 38 of the top systems thinkers to offer a multitude of provocative paths toward a radically better future for people and the planet."—John Cavanagh, Director, Institute for Policy Studies and co-editor of Alternatives to Economic Globalization: A Better World is Possible"This impressive collection of essays was completed a little before the Coronavirus pandemic shook up all our ways of living in the present and viewing the future. The book offers numerous suggestions on how to build truly new and resilient systemic changes in the economic, social and environmental spheres. Each of the 28 essays addresses issues that are urgently needed to reach the sustainable future we have been dreaming about for the past decades. It is now crystal clear that small adjustments to the existing system will no longer suffice. The systemic transformation needed must be global, courageous, inclusive and provide for previously disconnected issues to be considered together. The New Systems Reader is well positioned to play an important role in helping us move rapidly to create a new way forward for our planet and all of its inhabitants."—Julia Marton-Lefèvre, Former Director General, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)"The New Systems Reader puts to rest, once and for all and not a moment too soon, the most nefarious of lies: There is no alternative. Its pages present compelling alternatives that promise a more fair, more healthy, more thriving economy, along with road maps to get there. The only thing missing is a people-powered movement strong enough to bring these visions to fruition. That's up to us, so read this book and let's go!"—Annie Leonard, Executive Director, Greenpeace US"This book could not be emerging at a better moment: many more of us now realize that we need new models for our collective life, and it will come as a relief to many readers to know those models are out there, with people hard at work figuring out how we can build them to scale in time. A landmark book!"—Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy

• Preface1 | Social Democracy and Radical LocalismChapter 1: Social Democratic Capitalism: The Nordic Experience and BeyondChapter 2: The Good Society 2.0Chapter 3: The Promise of a Million Utopias 2 | New System Values Chapter 4: The Economy for the Common Good: A Workable, Transformative, Ethics-Based AlternativeChapter 5: A Civic Economy of ProvisionsChapter 6: Whole Systems Change: A Framework and First Steps for Social/Economic Transformation Chapter 7: A Living Economy for a Living Earth Chapter 8: Earthland: Scenes from a Civilized Future 3 | A Planetary Economy Chapter 9: Towards a New, Green Economy—Sustainable and Just—at Community ScaleChapter 10: Well-Being Economy: A Scenario for a Post-Growth Horizontal Governance System Chapter 11: Toward Democratic Eco-socialism as the Next World System: A Vision for the Future Chapter 12: Six Theses on Saving the Planet 4 | Ownership and Economic Democracy Chapter 13: Economic Democracy: Ethical, Economically Viable Socialism Chapter 14: The Next System: Workers Direct Themselves Chapter 15: Diversifying Public Ownership: Constructing Institutions for Participation, Social Empowerment, and Democratic Control 5 | Community-Based Pluralist Systems Chapter 16: A Pluralist Commonwealth and a Community Sustaining SystemChapter 17: The Joyful Economy: A Next System Possibility Chapter 18: Building a Cooperative Solidarity Commonwealth Chapter 19: Solidarity Economy: Building an Economy for People and PlanetChapter 20: Democratizing Wealth in the US South and Beyond Chapter 21: Navigating System Transition in a Volatile Century 6 | Commoning, Cooperation, and Participatory Planning Chapter 22: Commoning as a Transformative Social Paradigm Chapter 23: Cooperative Commonwealth and the Partner StateChapter 24: An Introduction to Participatory Economics Chapter 25: Participatory Economics and the Next System 7 | The Emerging New EconomyChapter 26: Cultivating Community Economies: Tools for Building a Livable World Chapter 27: Building Economic Democracy to Construct Eco-socialism from Below Chapter 28: How We Are Building the Movement for Reparative Economic DemocracyChapter 29: The Arusha Declaration: The Case for Democratic Socialism 50 Years OnAppendix: Questions for Authors of Works on New Models and Systems