private public partnership by lotta hedström

Lotta Hedström

Belarus Greens, November 2014

What is a Society?

SOCIETY = Stick together!

Profit - non profit? (Taxpayers money, money for gain?)

Formal - non formal? (Structured, open,rules, sponatneous?)

Public - private? (Everyones business or my own?)

Complementing parts, different tasks.

Not looking

for profit

Profit making

Formalised

structures, Informal structures,

spontaneous

protocols,

transparency

Public undertakings

Private undertakings

Formal Not for profit

Profit

Informal

Public Public

Private Private

Forrmal

Non profit Profit Informal

Formal Not for profit

Profit

Informal

Public Public

Private Private

Formal

Non profit Profit Informal

Formal Not for profitProfit

Informal

Public PublicPrivate Private

ForrmalNon profit Profit Informal

What about...

Academic production?

Artistic production?

Administrative work?

Political parties?

Media?

Hybrids that

• depends on purpose

• depends on financing

• depends on jurisdiction/system

A political party

• is working in a formal, public, context regardless of form of financing

• shold be non profit

• should be transparent and open to members

• should be formalised in it’s operations

• should work for the public good

• is in itself open to anyone = a civil society entity

• have an overt agenda but clear goals and visions

A Think tank

• should provide qualitative input for development of societal practise and individual thinking

• be open ended in solutions

• might have visions

• should stay close to academic world, but independent

• should have open space for radical solutions

• should encourage debate inside and outside

• should be able to criticize even it’s founders

Production

Parties Think tanks

articles, press releases articles, press releases

bills, motions and proposals reports, books and pamphlets

enrolement, employment lobbying

digital communication digital communication

direct press relations own press?

seminars, debates seminars, debates

Relations P /TT

independence / interdependence

order from / deliverance

acceptance /impact

NGOs and Politics

• gh

• ideologically related

• one by one issues

• recrutiment

• democracy – free opinion

Lobbying – for who?

• Commercial companies?

• Idealistic purposes?

• Hired agents

• Convinced agents?

Lobbying- towards who?

• Government – execute!

• Parliament – legislative changes!

• Agencies – practice, special benefits or outcomes!

• Media – opinion direction / make people NOT think?

A Living Party

A resting social room for Belonging, Identity, Comfort, Socializing among like minded

An intaking room for developing ideas, learning, activism, reflexion

An outgoing room for change

and democratic decisions

• “Since its founding in 2005, Cogito has aimed to broaden and deepen the public debate and foster change in a spirit characterisedby ecological concern and human solidarity. We foregroundconstructive ideas and practical initiatives to demonstrate that a sustainable society is within reach.

• Rooted in green thinking, our work seeks to further livelihoods and lifestyles that are sustainable in the long-term across the globe. Thisnecessitates critically examining dominant economic and politicalparadigms and power structures, articulating viable alternatives, as well as exploring the means by which democracy can be strengthened and developed.

• Our approach and work methods are characterised by opennessand a readiness to question the received opinion, including truthsthat are considered to be self-evident within the green movement. “

The Swedish Green Think tank:

• web page www.cogito.nu

• seminars and events

• book and publications

• since 2005

• party finance + own + projects

• self appointed board (now, not from start)

http://www.cogito.nu

Ideology and Politics

Political philosophy conventionally refers to three foundational political ideologies: liberalism, conservatism, and socialism. However, there is no comparable established philosophical tradition applicable to the various kinds of ecological or green thought. The emergence of green or environmentalist parties in the 1970s has destabilised traditional categories of political thought.Cogito explores and scrutinises existing forms of green thinking and political praxis: Are we witnessing the crystallisation of a new way of political thinking, which is no less concise and coherent than traditional ideologies? Moreover, how is green thought being translated into concrete politics?

Peace and Development

Ours is an age marked by armed conflict or the threat of armed conflict. Acts of war do not only lay waste to lives and resources but also do harm to nature and the environment with long-term effects. Although armed conflict may partly be caused by a set of very different factors – political, historical, ethnic, social, economic, and cultural – the struggle over scarce resources and limited environmental space is often an underlying element.One of the most crucial issues today is how to deal with the circumstances that give rise to conflicts, in preventive and proactive fashion before they become violent. The present approach to ”conflict resolution” by way of military intervention, not only within the framework of the UN but external to it as well, is alarming. In comparison with the resources spent on military armament and intervention, the scope given to non-violent and civil methods of conflict resolution is neglected. This applies globally as well as to the situation within the EU and in Sweden.The objective of Cogito’s work in the area of peace and development is to throw into relief the role of scarce resources as the cause of conflict, to explore the possibilities of peaceful prevention of violent conflict, and to examine methods of non-violent conflict resolution.

Environment and Welfare

The global climate crisis affects present-day social organisation in its entirety, and, increasingly, people are coming to see that the roots of the problems are structural rather than technical. To face the current problems and challenges, what is needed is a critical analysis of the way society is organised and of predominant norms, so that the interconnections between environmental problems and social values and ideals are made visible. The basis of present-day welfare systems is access to cheap oil and perpetual economic growth. In order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the unsustainable exploitation of natural resources, this economic and social model must be fundamentally changed. New ways of sustainably organising and financing human welfare are a dire necessity.Still today, a large part of the world’s population is mired in deep poverty. The consumption levels of the rich part of the world are not globally sustainable – in a finite world, the environmental space available for human beings is necessarily limited. The connection between increasing material consumption and quality of life has often been assumed to be linear, yet it is being increasingly questioned by greater numbers of people.The critical exploration of the complex intersections of these areas – environmental destruction, the climate crisis, global inequality, and the organisation of social welfare – constitutes one of Cogito’s central tasks.

Examples from other Think tanks

Thanks! Questions and remarks?

Lotta Hedström, EKO5

[email protected]