Social Systems Thinking

A workbook in the use of tools for thinking about social systems

Two loops of text boxes joined by arrows. One going from Monitor, Analyse, Plan, Execute back to Monitor and the second from the Plan box to Design then back to Plan
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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements
Land acknowledgements. Personal ones to follow later


Introduction

A rationale for this workbook and an overview.

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The Reasons for this Workbook

What is this work?
The subject matter of the book and an explanation of the workbook format.
What's in it for me?
My personal reasons for writing this
A brief bio
Brief life history, enough to know where these ideas come from and make an initial assessment of how credible they may be.
>What's in it for you?
Some reasons why you might find it interesting.
>What's in it for us?
What can we gain by collaborating?

The Structure of the Workbook

The MADPE loop: A description of a structured process for understanding human social systems and for changing them.

The Workshops

A series of workshops, each using one or more tools to understand a particular system.

Most workshops are followed by a discussion of the tools and possible improvements.

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Introduction: Workshop Structure

Workshop Structure Describes the general structure of each of the workshops.

Global Systems

Workshop on Global Systems

Review of the Workshop

Nation-States

An initial look at nations and nation-states, defining them and summarising their internal and external characteristics.

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Clarifying the Concepts of Nations and States
Explaining the use of the terms “Nation”, “Nation-State”, “Country” and related terms in this workbook, and the reasons for requiring more precision than given in dictionaries.
Workshop Review
Reviewing the use of tools in the workshop.
Workshop on Countries and their environment
Beginning to use a simple tool for systems, the System Environment Diagram, by applying it to countriesincontext
Review of Workshop on Countries and their environment
What I learned while writing the workshop

Democracy

A first round of workshops on democracy, introducing some basic ideas about the meanings of democracy and applying some basic systems thinking tools.

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What is Democracy
Defining democracy. It has multiple dimensions and is not a binary concept.
Democracy as a System: Context
The major external entities providing the context for democratic government institutions

Tools Reference

A detailed description of each of the tools used in the Workshops.

The description will be updated after any workshop using the tool, based on findings from the workshop.

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Language Tools and Traps

Tools for clarifying use of language and avoiding the abuse of language to lead us astray.

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Definitions and Dictionaries

Glossary

Glossary

References

Under construction

Page updated: February 6, 2023