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Freedom, friction and the future of knowledge for social change

By Mike On February 27, 2014 · Add Comment
How can knowledge play a more useful role in the struggle for social justice? Late last year, the Coady International Institute in Canada asked me to address this question in a talk delivered during a conference organized with the International Development Research Center. The talk was filmed by Coady and a couple of local TV stations, and streamed online. Here’s the Youtube version:
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Who’s afraid of partisan politics?

By Mike On February 20, 2014 · Add Comment
At a time when Americans can only agree on how divided they’ve become, it’s no surprise that politicians who promote a bi-partisan approach are singled out for praise. Step forward Ohio Governor John Kasich, for example, a Republican who expanded Medicaid to 275,000 people under ‘Obamacare’ in October of 2013. “Nowhere in life do we not compromise” he told the New York Times. Or how about Ron Unz, the publisher of the American Conservative who also wants to raise the minimum wage in California to the highest in the USA? The message is clear: partisan politics is the problem, and working [...]
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Has Tim Ryan lost his mind?

By Mike On February 10, 2014 · Add Comment
The movement for “mindfulness meditation” is growing, but can it break the modern political gridlock? An interview with Tim Ryan, the US Congressman who wants a “quiet revolution” in America. With bills on immigration, gun control and balancing the budget currently stalled in Congress, many Americans would try anything to unfreeze the US political logjam, from magic mushrooms to Punxsutawney Phil Sowerby,“the world’s most famous prognosticating rodent”. Congressman Tim Ryan’s solution is more conventional: he wants everyone to develop greater “mindfulness”, through simple forms of meditation and other practices that focus our attention and help us listen [...]
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“Love 2.0:” a conversation with Barbara Fredrickson

By Mike On January 27, 2014 · Add Comment
Is there any scientific basis for believing that love can be a force for change in politics and economics? An interview with one of the world’s leading authorities on positive psychology and the value of “micro-moments of connection.” Can love be a positive force for change in the public sphere as well as in our private lives? If not, Transformation is in trouble: openDemocracy’s new section has staked its future on demonstrating that radical changes are possible in politics and economics when approached in a spirit of human connection and solidarity. Read more…
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Welcome to Transformation

By Mike On July 4, 2013 · Add Comment
Can fusing personal and social change radically transform our societies? We say yes. Michael Edwards introduces openDemocracy’s new section: Transformation. On a winter’s night in 1955, a young preacher named Martin Luther King climbed into the pulpit of the Holt Street Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. Once there, he delivered a speech to a packed crowd of close to five thousand people that would eventually lead to his own assassination, but breathe new life into the struggle to transform America and the world. Read more…
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Beauty and the Beast: Can Money Ever Foster Social Transformation?

By Mike On June 27, 2013 · Add Comment
In relation to development and social change, money is both a curse and a cure, both “beauty and the beast.” Financial resources are essential to the functioning of most programs, policies and institutions, and they can help to make great things happen. Yet inevitably, money also raises questions about inequality, the strings attached to funding, and the power of those who hold them to push resources to causes they approve of, perhaps even weakening or corrupting authentic social action in the process. So how can money help to foster social transformation? Read or download the full paper here.
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Four Questions for NGOs to Ponder

By Mike On May 28, 2013 · Add Comment
Someone once said that the only predictions that come true are those that aren’t predictions – a reference to the difficulty of knowing what’s going to happen in the future by extrapolating from the present. I’ve been working for, observing and writing about NGOs in the international arena for more than 30 years, yet I’d be hard-pressed to forecast the next stage of their journey with any certainty, partly because NGOs are so diverse. Still, certainty is not essential for a productive conversation, and I can think of at least four inter-related questions relevant to every NGO that require a [...]
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What’s the Connection Between Tradition and Social Justice?

By Mike On January 30, 2013 · Add Comment
Over the last twelve months I’ve spent a lot of time working on that question with the Engaging Tradition Project, led by my friend and colleague Urvashi Vaid and hosted by Columbia Law School’s Center on Gender and Sexuality Law. You can read the background papers for the project here, which explore how traditions that surround gender and sexuality can help or hinder movements for social change.
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The Big Philanthrocapitalism Debate

By Mike On December 1, 2012 · Add Comment
I’ve spent a lot of time over the last four years pushing back against the idea that civil society groups should “work like a business,” and that philanthropy should “operate like the market.” This debate has spawned hundreds of contributions from me and others, so I’ve collected a few of the most important ones together on this page to make them easy to locate. In 2008 I wrote a pamphlet for Demos and the Young Foundation that kicked off the debate called Just Another Emperor: The Myths and Realities of Philanthrocapitalism, which you can download for free here. It [...]
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What’s the Future of Civil Society?

By Mike On January 20, 2012 · Add Comment
Where is civil society heading in the future and what forces will shape its evolution in the coming years? Check out this interview with me at the INTRAC Anniversary Conference in Oxford.
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