Since I first heard this quote, I’ve been struck by the explanatory power of recognising that we are in an interregnum. In fact, we ‘re in many interregnums (interregna?) each of which has their own set of mordant symptoms:
- the old fossil-fuel economy is dying (and risks taking us with it), and the new is not yet born
- the old financialised global capital system is certainly exhibiting very many mordant symptoms, and the new is not yet born
- trust and participation in our current system of representative democracy is dying, and the new is not yet born
Much less dramatically but significantly closer to my day job(s) I think I could argue that:
- the models and practice of English local government are dying and the new is not yet born
- the hierarchical way that paper- and meetings-limited organisations work is dying, and the new is not yet born.
I find it interesting that many of these things are bound together. We could tie these threads together by arguing that English local government’s model is dying because its new way of organising is not yet born and because the authorising environment that will come from rectifying issues in our democracy and national organisation isn’t here yet. Those aspects of multi-layered approaches, including local, are crucial to the aftermath of the fossil-fuel economy. All of which is inhibited by financialisation; aka measuring, valuing, and acting on the wrong measures.
Share this