Comments on: Debating the role of the state and civil society in P2P Theory https://blog.p2pfoundation.net/debating-the-role-of-the-state-and-civil-society-in-p2p-theory/2011/03/04 Researching, documenting and promoting peer to peer practices Mon, 21 Mar 2011 07:54:07 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.5.15 By: Poor Richard https://blog.p2pfoundation.net/debating-the-role-of-the-state-and-civil-society-in-p2p-theory/2011/03/04/comment-page-1#comment-480975 Mon, 21 Mar 2011 07:54:07 +0000 http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/?p=14367#comment-480975 I see the divisions and distinctions between the public sector, private sector, and civil society continuing to dissolve. A state is a special corporation that operates certain “natural monopolies” for the residents of a geographical area. All other corporations are subsidiaries of the state which charters, regulates and taxes them. The state’s charter is its constitution and its bylaws are its statutes. Corporations can be related heirachially or horizontally. Their internal structure, management, and operating procedures are defined by their charters and bylaws as well as by the constraints imposed by the state, by any other corporations by which a subordinate corporation is held, and by their contracts with other corporations or individuals.

These charters, bylaws, and contracts can take many forms that sometimes defy classification but which can often be categorized by where they lie on various continua or axes. One such axis is autocratic-consensual (or similarly, authoritarian-egalitarian). Democratic is somewhere between autocratic and consensual. Another axis is open-closed (which can apply to any number of matters such as information transparency, membership, employment, accountability, etc.)

The “public interest”, whether expressed as general welfare, as life-liberty-happiness, as life-liberty-equality, or some other type of utility, is best served, in general, by the greatest possible consent of we the people. Consent is served by transparency and accountability. This is an oversimplification of utility, but the public-private axis should be redefined as a composite index of public-interest factors that are satisfied by any given corporation, including the state.

Put another way, the public interest spans everything public, private, and civic. It is served more or less by all corporations, including the state, to the degree that they satisfy such functional public interest criteria as consent, transparency, accountability, democracy, inclusion, sustainability, reciprocity, & etc., etc., etc.

Note: if the word “corporation” is too odious to some, a word like “association” can be substituted as long as its understood to include corporations both as we know them and as they could become. The word is not the thing. The important issue is the functional relationships between groups and individuals.

Poor Richard

]]>