Janet McIntyre-Mills

Challenging economic and religious fundamentalisms: implications for the state, the market and 'the enemies within'

Democracy is currently increasingly criticised for not representing the interests of citizens (Institute of Governance, 2005) or not taking into account the social justice and environmental concerns that span national boundaries (Singer, 2002). What is knowledge? Who decides? How can we prevent losing knowledge? How can knowledge sharing be facilitated in the interests of sustainable futures? The contribution attempts to address some of these questions. The discussion is premised on the idea that there are many bodies of knowledge and that the challenge is to ask questions that will enable the appropriate knowledge to be matched contextually to a task, challenge or problem (Aristotle in Nicomachean Ethics, Irwin, 1985).

Molar and Molecular Identity and Politics

The structures and processes of international relations and governance need to be re-considered to address diversity. The paper makes a plea for systemic governance. Policy makers and managers need to work with rather than within theoretical and methodological frameworks to achieve multidimensional and multilayered policy decisions. Conceptual tools can be used to enhance systemic governance. The closest we can get to truth is through compassionate dialogue that explores paradoxes and considers the rights and responsibilities of caretakers.

Systemic action research: a strategy for whole system change

by Danny Burns, Bristol, UK, Policy Press, 2007, 208 pp., £65.00 (hardback), ISBN 978‐1‐85134‐783‐1, £26.99 (paperback), ISBN 978‐1‐83134‐737‐4 The following three reviews present different perspec...

Systemic Ethics for Social and Environmental Justice

Gandhi opposed the might of British colonialism in India through the simple act of enabling people to spin their own cloth and thus by avoid the high costs associated with purchasing cloth that they had already grown themselves. Then he developed mass resistance through the elegant choice of boycotting the salt tax as a way to ensure that profit could be extracted.

Pathways to Wellbeing—Low Carbon Challenge to Live Virtuously and Well: Participatory Design and Education on Mitigation, Adaptation, Governance and Accountability

The impact of climate change has been underestimated and the way in which built capital is valued at the expense of social and environmental capital has resulted in development and urbanization processes that threaten food, energy and water security. These issues were discussed and raised at a previous conference on sustainability hosted with Universitas Nasional in 2015, Jakarta where I presented a plenary paper. This issue was also addressed by delegates from the West Java Provincial Government who attended a 10-day leadership workshop at Flinders University. Workshops at the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Religion and Ministry of Social Affairs in 2013 and 2014 and workshops with members of the Indonesian Research Consortium in 2016 have resulted in establishing the basis for this research. This research is in several stages and this is stage one in Indonesia. The objective is to develop a way to enhance the management of carbon footprints by participants. This chapter discusses the following: ∙ Design and preparation for a participatory action research project based on engagement with staff at Universitas Nasionale, Padjadjaran, Indonesian State Islamic University and West Java Provincial Council and Wirasoft, Sydney. ∙ Processes to date that have involved developing a research consortium with universities and Wirasoft. The participatory process supports the design of a Participatory Action Research Programme to be implemented in three stages across Depok (a highly urbanized area with a diverse population), Jatinangor (an area that is becoming increasingly suburban) and Cianjur (a food production area). The fourfold aim of this PAR research in public policy and administration is to: ∙ Develop and pilot processes for public education and engagement to address the rights and responsibilities of ecological citizens through participatory public education. The approach to the research will be to pilot the engagement software and to test the understanding that people have of social, economic and environmental challenges before and after using the software. ∙ Work with people to find local solutions and to explore what works, why and how and what does not work why and how. It will do so by exploring the following hypothesis: The greater the level of public participation (a) the greater the understanding of UN Development Goals, (b) the greater the personal application of the goals. ∙ Address the low carbon challenge by finding ways to regenerate the way we live in cities and to be mindful that the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals do not go far enough to prevent food, energy and water insecurity in unliveable environments. It addresses and considers food, energy and water security by enabling people to engage in local governance at the local level. ∙ Extend the previously funded research by the Local Government Association, entitled: “Decision Making Software to address mitigation and adaptation to climate change” (Ethics Protocol 5262) (The research was conducted from 2010 and completed in 2012 and the results were published in 2014 in the form of two Springer volumes. The results of the de-identified data have been published by Systems Research and Behavioural Science and by Springer. McIntyre-Mills, J. 2012a “Anthropocentricism and wellbeing: a way out of the lobster pot?” Syst. Research and Behavioural Science. Published online in Wiley Online Library. (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/sres.2131 (A ranking ABDC Australian Business Deans Council Journal Quality List). McIntyre-Mills, J and de Vries, D. 2012b. “Transformation from Wall Street to Well-being” Syst. Research and Behavioural Science First published online: 10 OCT 2012 DOI: 10.1002/sres.2133 (A ranking ABDC Australian Business Deans Council Journal Quality List). McIntyre-Mills, J. with De Vries and Binchai, N. 2014, “From Wall Street to Wellbeing” Springer, New York, 253 pp. ISBN 978-1-4899-7465-5). McIntyre-Mills, J. 2014b, “Systemic Ethics and non-anthropocentric stewardship” Springer, New York, 270 pp.). Thus the research will: ∙ Deepen our understanding of how people perceive local climate challenges and experiences. ∙ Explore the social influences habits and a range of behaviours that potentially shape consumption. ∙ Test the kinds of face-to-face and digital public engagement that could encourage people to explore ways to live simply and well. The research is low risk and the data will be collected by Assoc. Prof Janet McIntyre and co-researchers. The research will be conducted through focus groups, interviews hosted via the participating organizations and a web-based survey.

Governing the Anthropocene: Through Balancing Individualism and Collectivism as a Way to Manage Our Ecological Footprint

The current way of life is unsustainable (Papadimitriou in The coming ‘tsunami of debt’. The Guardian.com, Sunday 15 June 2014 17.58 BST 2014) and in a bid to maintain the status quo—profit is extracted from people and the environment. The challenge of scaling up efforts to engage people in an alternative form of democracy and governance is that currently the response to social, economic and environmental challenges is that internationally politics is being shaped by so-called realist politics (Beardsworth in Cosmopolitanism and international relations theory. Polity, Cambridge 2011) based on (a) competition for resources, (b) the notion that profit and loss, win and lose is contained/carried by ‘the other’ and (c) Huntington’s ‘clash of cultures’ thesis rather than an understanding of our interlinked, co-created and co-determined fate.

Empowering Indigenous People: Voice, Choice and Agency in Rural Development Planning in Mindanao

The chapter explores the disempowered role of women in rural development planning in Mindanao, Philippines. It argues that women are excluded from opportunities to participate actively in making development decisions as a result of the rise in multinationals who take over small farms and combine them into plantations growing only one crop. These monocultural growing techniques exclude the knowledge that women have about the role of diverse crops and the diverse (including wild) fauna and flora on which many Indigenous people depend for their food security. The repression and ‘weeding out’ of women’s knowledge by multinationals builds upon the patriarchal domination of decision-making. The result is that the knowledge of women about seed diversity, wild fauna and flora is being lost. Following Shiva, a case is made for the representation of women in public decision-making at the community and regional level so that women’s policy suggestions (based on their experience as farmers) is listened to, respected and acted upon, in order to preserve diversity. It is argued that active participation at the community, local government and state government levels should be encouraged to preserve diverse living systems as well as the life chances of the most disadvantaged women and their children. Moser’s framework is used to analyse inequality in the existing gender division of labour while Kabeer’s social relations approach is used as a lens to critique the existing gender inequality in various institutions spanning the household, community, state and market level. This qualitative research was conducted in the rural and Indigenous communities of Mindanao in 2013. A total of 105 participants were interviewed through theoretical sampling. This study used participant observation, interviews and focus group discussions. The Human Ethics clearance is 6046.

Decentralization, Participatory Planning, and the Anthropocene in Indonesia, with a Case Example of the Berugak Dese, Lombok, Indonesia

Successful government decentralization requires the participation of all levels of government, industry, and civil society, and especially benefits from the traditions, wisdom, and ownership of local communities. However, Indonesia’s central government was not assisted by international aid donors to undertake a decentralization process that was participatory in design or application. Nor did donor invest trust in Indonesia’s government to achieve decentralization, which is typical of critiques on development. Processes have resulted in the failure of complete decentralization, which has had adverse outcomes for people, their communities, and the environmental justice required to achieve a non-anthropocentric stewardship. In providing the Berugak Dese, a locally grown planning institution in Lombok, Indonesia, we present this village level model of participatory planning as an exemplar for participatory planning and distributive governance. We pose that for successful development aimed to enhance the welfare of people, collectives, and planet, that there are lessons to be learned from the engagement of successful and sustained activities at the grassroots.

Recognizing our hybridity and interconnectedness: Implications for social and environmental justice:

A core capability for sociologists who wish to respond to the complex interconnected social, cultural, political and economic challenges will be the ability to transcend disciplinary boundaries and to work with diverse perspectives. Thus those who inform the argument for this article include De Waal and Dawkins (primatology and philosophy), Kymlicka and Donaldson (animal rights and shared habitat), Hirschman and Hannah Arendt (on economics and politics), Amartya Sen (on economics and morality), Stuart Hall (on identity) and Martha Nussbaum (on social justice). The work of Stiglitz on wellbeing stocks is extended through drawing on Vandana Shiva (on the intersections spanning economics, politics and the environment) and a recognition of our interconnectedness as part of a living system. This provides the basis for intersectional policy approaches to address violence against the planet and violence against those without a voice. This capability is important if we are to inform praxis on governing the Anthropocene, in order to protect both human and animal rights along with their shared and separate habitats.

People and the Planet: Implications of Hybridity for Ethics and Consumption Choices

This chapter reflects on the area of concern: How should we live? I start by considering whether well-being needs to be explored in terms of a sense of purpose or in terms of a sense of perceived pleasure, what is valued more.